


It's Only Begun

by GoldieGirl



Series: This City Is Ours [1]
Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gang World, Child Death, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Los Santos, M/M, Multi, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 13:56:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 78,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldieGirl/pseuds/GoldieGirl
Summary: The BBS was one giant question mark. Despite all of Delirious' vast knowledge gathered over the years, he had little to no information on the most powerful, and smallest, gang in Los Santos. Anyone who knew anything either ended up dead or kept their mouths shut.When Delirious met back up with his brother after a few years of being apart, he certainly hadn't expected that Cartoonz had joined the BBS, or that he would also be invited to do so. Or that the spark of attraction between him and the mysterious Vanoss would grow with their every encounter.Adapting from being a lone hitman who had 'no need for friends', or, rather, feared that wherever he went a curse of bad luck would follow, hurting not only himself but those around him, to being a part of something much bigger was no easy task. But neither was the appearance of an old enemy, one who could throw not only the BBS, but all of Los Santos, into a battle of life or death.





	1. Chapter One

Under normal circumstances Delirious would speak his mind, but, with a gun against his head, he couldn’t help keeping his mouth shut. Hitman or not, he knew when he was teetering on the edge between life and death. All it would take was a flicker of the trigger and his brains would be all over the concrete floor. So, no, he wouldn’t be spouting off like normal.

The man holding the gun wasn’t someone he recognized. He could be some faceless member of any one of the many gangs Delirious had pissed off over the years, but Delirious didn’t recall doing something personal against this particular person. Thinking about it, he sure hoped this guy didn’t have a grudge against him. It might get a bit bumpy if he revealed he couldn’t remember killing his best friend or something.

“I got him right here, boss.” the man said into a phone. He grinned down at Delirious, something dangerous glinting in his eyes. Delirious knew that look, having been on the receiving end of it many times. He needed a way out of this situation fast.

“Mind if I ask who your boss is?” Delirious asked. The man just pushed the pistol’s barrel into his hockey mask. If he survived, there’d be a serious scuff mark on the white. If he didn’t, well, there’d be an even more significant mark on both his mask and his head.

He rolled his eyes behind his mask. All the waiting was going to kill him, not the gun-toting lacky in front of him. Honestly, Delirious couldn’t remember why he was at the warehouse, how he got there, or where the guy came from. He was somewhere in the rough part of the city, though the whole city was basically just one big rough part, which was always a bad idea for him. He was skilled, he was silent, but, boy, was he well-known. He’d worked for sixteen gangs, made enemies of at least three of those and seven or eight others, taken out countless individuals, and, throughout the years, donned the same wardrobe. Same blue hoodie, trusted hockey mask, and whatever pair of relevant sneakers he could afford. That was probably a big reason of why he’d been stopped even when minding his own business by someone he’d never seen before.

There was the rumble of a car outside of the warehouse, catching their attention before suddenly cutting off. The man smirked. Looks like that car wasn’t some unlikely ally coming to help him out. Actually, he didn’t have many of those so it definitely wasn’t that.

“Over here!” the man shouted. His guard was down, this could be his only chance. In one swift motion, Delirious grabbed the man’s wrist, twisting the gun away from his head. He pushed forward and up, towering above him. They were probably around the same height, but Delirious wouldn’t let him stand tall ever again. He swept his foot against the man’s legs, letting him collapse before ripping the gun from his hand and pressing it against the back of his head.

He bit back a witty comment, pulling the trigger. The man’s body slumped forward onto the ground, blood leaking from the hole in his head. He threw the gun down next to him. No need to worry about fingerprints thanks to the gloves he’d put on earlier. At the time, there’d been no need for them, but now it was all good.

“Delirious?” someone asked incredulously. His head snapped to look past the row of packed shelves to his left. There were two shadows there, watching him. The voice was familiar, something he hadn’t heard in awhile.

“Cartoonz?” The bigger of the two shadows took a step forward, arms spreading open to welcome a hug. Delirious grinned, stepping over the dead body and to his long time friend. He was wearing the same eyepatch as when Delirious had last seen him.

“How long has it been, man?” his friend asked, clapping him on the back. “You disappeared on me what? Five years ago?”

“Hey, I called!” Delirious argued. Cartoonz waved him off, eyes connecting with the body. “He one of yours?”

“Nah. If he was one of mine, you wouldn’t have gotten away that easy.” he said, grinning. Delirious punched him lightly on the arm. “Speaking of which, Ohm! Come over here!”

The second shadow, which Delirious had ignored but not forgotten, walked into the light. He was wearing a gray bandana over his eyes yet seemed to know exactly where he was going. It put Delirious on edge but he decided he would give this guy a chance. For Cartoonz.

“This is my partner.” Cartoonz said. “Ohm, this is Delirious. He’s the one I always talk about. You know, my brother. We used to work together before I joined the gang and he went off and did whatever it was he did.”

“I know who he is.” Ohm said, smiling. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his gray hoodie, taking a few cautious steps closer. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Don’t worry, it’s all been good, and nothing that could give me an edge on you. Cartoonz is careful when it comes to you.”

Cartoonz cleared his throat. “Look, let’s get out of here before someone comes looking for that guy. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I haven’t seen you in ages and I’d like to catch up.”

“I can’t just waltz into your base.” Delirious said.

“Well, just join us and then it’ll be your base.” Cartoonz replied, already starting towards the front of the warehouse. Ohm followed him without looking back. Delirious didn’t know what to do, so he wandered after them. “We could always use a hitman, and I’ve been trying to convince the boys to let me contact you for months. Their pride always gets in the way, but they want you. Besides, you already know some of us.”

“I do?” Delirious asked. Cartoonz nodded.

“Yeah. You remember from Nogla from that time we blew up that pier? He was the third person they called in as temporary help.” Delirious nodded and, though he knew Cartoonz couldn’t seem him, Cartoonz continued. “He’s just as likeable as he was back then.”

“So, not at all?” Delirious joked. Cartoonz flipped him off. They both knew for a fact that Nogla and Delirious were like two peas in a pod, or, as Cartoonz had said on multiple occasions, two thorns in his side.

“You knew Nogla from before the gang?” Ohm asked. “The two of you sure didn’t act like it.”

Cartoonz shrugged, holding open the door to let them out into the dark alley. They wouldn’t have to worry about being caught walking out of the building with a recently murdered individual inside considering most places like that didn’t have cameras, but also because no one would be able to pin them to it. Hundreds of people went through those warehouses each day, some even shadier than them.

There was only one car parked outside- the black truck that Cartoonz drove while doing patrol. Delirious didn’t own a vehicle. He thought they were a waste of money, space, and energy. Also because any car he could want would be too flashy and easy to track down.

“Hop in the backseat, we’ll drive you.” Ohm said. He pulled himself up into the driver’s seat, starting the truck. Delirious rose an eyebrow at Cartoonz, who seemed to be pointedly trying to ignore him. Cartoonz was extremely protective of his trucks, going so far as physically pulling Delirious out of the driver’s seat once. They’d been in the middle of a get-away. Cartoonz had a bullet lodged in his shoulder and couldn’t see out of his scarless eye because there was blood running into it, yet he still managed to drive them to safety. To let Ohm drive meant that he was truly trusting of this man.

It was obvious that they didn’t consider him a threat, driving him straight to their base without any formalities. Normally, he’d be blindfolded or they’d drive him in circles for a little while. There had been this one time when McCrow’s group put a bag over his head and then tried to knock him out. He’d been so pissed that he ripped some dudes earlobe clean off. While they didn’t kill him, he wasn’t welcomed back. That was alright with him. Their base was attacked soon after by some rival gang and they disbanded.

They stopped at a large building on the edge of the city. It was a few miles in from the ocean, far enough from the bustle of the inner city and the docks, but close enough that they were still Los Santos residents. It was a large building, both long and tall, sturdy and prepared for any attack that could be thrown its way, while still looking completely ordinary. Ohm pulled through a garage door, parking between a red sportscar and a black SUV. Delirious whistled, hopping out of the truck. He ran a hand over the sportscar, grinning. If he were to buy a car, he’d get one just like this, though blue was more his color.

There were cars and trucks everywhere. Workbenches were scattered along the walls, littered with tools. At one of them, there was a dark skinned man in a white beanie. He was working on something, pausing only to look up at them. He spotted Cartoonz and Ohm first, a smile forming on his face. It quickly disappeared when his eyes landed on Delirious.

“Who’s that?” he asked, slamming his screwdriver onto the table and standing up. Delirious could understand the aggression. While he’d never been a true member of a gang, he could see how a new guy showing up in a base could make someone nervous. It also wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.

“This is my pal Delirious.” Cartoonz said, clapping a hand on Delirious’ back. “He’s the one I was telling you about. The hitman.”

The man didn’t look impressed, coming up to them. He crossed his arms, circling Delirious, inspecting him. No fists had been swung yet, so he was thankful for that.

Finally, the man stopped, moving to stand face to face with Delirious. He stood still for a moment, the two of them watching each other, before shoving a hand out in his direction.

“The name’s Basically.” he said. “Some people call me Marcel, but you can’t. Not yet.”

Delirious grinned behind his mask, chuckling. He took Marcel’s hand, shaking it. “I’m Delirious.”

“So, showed him to Vanoss?” Marcel asked. He started walking towards a door in the far corner. Cartoonz and Ohm followed him, so Delirious took that as the way in.

Vanoss. Of course Cartoonz ended up a member of the BBS. Delirious wasn’t as surprised as he should have been, considering the mystery and rumors around the gang and their leader. That’s all they were though- rumors.

“Not yet. Is he out?” Cartoonz typed a code into a keypad and then swiped a card he pulled from his pocket before the door unlocked. He held it open for them, letting them into a large storeroom full of any type of weapon Delirious could have ever imagined. It took all of his energy not to start drooling.

“Just left with Moo probably ten minutes ago. They’re going to the docks to check in with Nanners for the biweekly specs.” Marcel said. They led Delirious away from the storeroom and up a flight of stairs. “He had to go for Terroriser since Droidd still hasn’t given him the go-ahead to leave the base.”

They ended up in a large living room. There was a kitchen with a long island surrounded by stools. Some guy in a green jacket was slumped over the counter, head on the granite. He was nursing a glass in one hand and pencil in the other. A notepad was stuck under his right shoulder, covered in scribbles. Four couches were pushed in the other corner, all facing a large flatscreen. All the popular gaming consoles were packed underneath, and Delirious snorted at that. Of all the gangs Cartoonz could have joined, he ended up with probably the only one full of people as invested in video games as the two of them used to be. They hadn’t played together in so long, probably because Delirious’ TV was destroyed during an attack on his apartment and he hadn’t gotten around to buying a new one. Maybe he could convince Cartoonz to sit down with him and a beer and play something. He wouldn’t mind Ohm or Marcel joining. They honestly seemed pretty chill.

The man in the green jacket rose his head, and Delirious immediately recognised him, though it had been almost six years since they’d last seen each other. Nogla seemed to remember him as well, a large grin appearing on his face. He dropped the pencil, coming around the island.

“Look who da cat dragged in.” Nogla slurred. While they hadn’t been with each other for long, they had hit it off right away. Delirious used to wonder what had happened to the Irish man, and always had a soft spot for him. Now he was right in front of him, looking better than ever. “Where did Cartoonz find ya?”

“A warehouse.” Delirious answered. “What about you? How’d you end up here?”

“Two of me best mates were already here. It wasn’t too long after we moved apart. Only a month er two.”

“You two know each other?” Marcel asked, taking a seat on the couch.

“The three of us worked together for a job once.” Cartoonz said.

“One of the best I’ve ever done.” Nogla joked. The three of them snickered while Ohm and Marcel just watched in confusion. “Told Vanoss?”

“Nah, he left before we got here.” Cartoonz said. Nogla nodded, moving back behind the island to pour more whiskey into his cup. “Who’s around?”

“Tyler and Craig are upstairs doing who knows what. Brian’s off pouting somewhere. Scotty wasn’t with you, Marcel?” Nogla asked, taking a sip.

“He left with Bryce to get some dinner.” Marcel said. “They both wanted burgers.”

“Lui’s out?” Ohm asked. Delirious had almost forgotten he was there.

“Trying out a new drone.” Nogla said.

They were quiet after that, though Delirious wouldn’t go as far as to say it was awkward. It was like they all got caught up in their thoughts. He didn’t think it would be appropriate for him to just sit anywhere, so he stood. It made him feel better that Ohm was standing too.

“Where are you going to put him?” Marcel asked, breaking the silence. Cartoonz turned to look at him, thinking for a moment.

“There’s that empty room on the fifth floor.” He snickered. “Though it might still smell like fish.”

“Put him on a couch so he’s the first thing Vanoss sees when he walks through the door.” Marcel suggested.

“Yeah right.” Ohm said, laughing. To Delirious, it sounded like bells, very innocent and kind. From the first time he’d seen him, Delirious thought he looked very out of place. He was smaller than the other men and wearing baggy clothes. Delirious couldn’t imagine him killing someone. The only thing that made him look fitting was the bandana, but that seemed like a stupid thing for a gang member to wear. Unlike a mask, he couldn’t see through it, putting him at a disadvantage. “Though, who knows? Maybe Vanoss will fall in love with him or something.”

All of the men laughed at that. Even Delirious, who had stayed relatively calm and reserved, couldn’t help but roll his eyes. As if anyone could come to love a hitman with such a record. A successful gang leader? No way.

“What are you pricks laughing at?” someone yelled down the stairs. Whoever it was had a pretty loud voice all the time, as the men around him didn’t react to the volume or tone as if it was anything out of the ordinary. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

"Like he’s not up there flirting with Craig.” Nogla said, sending another round of snickers through the room. “Come down here if ya want ta see, ya asshole!”

There was a sudden set of thumping noises as someone charged down the stairs. A man in zebra pants burst through the stairwell and rushed at Nogla, but the grin on his face gave him away. The two of them batted at each other before the man caught the taller of the two in a headlock, messing with his hair. Marcel, Cartoonz, and Ohm just chuckled. There was such a calm atmosphere around the group that Delirious felt, for just a moment, like he was at home.

The man in the zebra pants released Nogla, brushing off the Irish man’s green jacket. He looked out at the rest of his friends, gearing up to say something, before he noticed Delirious. The smile disappeared.

“Who’s this?” he asked. He must have been someone higher up in the ranks, considering his face steeled and an air of authority formed around him. The others didn’t seem to care too much, but Delirious felt out of place once more.

“Obviously it’s Delirious.” someone else said. None of them had even noticed that he’d entered the room. Compared to the rest of them, this new person was dressed down, in just a tshirt and jeans. His hair was messy and his glasses were perched on his nose like he’d just put them on. “Not many people run around with hockey masks.”

This new man walked straight up to Delirious, holding out a hand. “I’m Craig. I was wondering when I’d finally meet you. Considering this line of work, it was bound to happen eventually.”

Delirious shook the offered hand. It should probably alarm him that Craig already knew who he was and was acting so friendly, but there was something about him that felt genuine.

“For god’s sake, we don’t know if we can trust him.” the man in zebra pants yelled, coming up behind Craig and pulling him away from Delirious. “You can just go around telling people your real name. You know that!”

“Don’t mind Wildcat.” Craig said, grinning. The man in zebra pants, who must have been Wildcat, looked extremely offended for a moment, before Craig gave him a pat on the shoulder. “He gets grumpy when Vanoss isn’t here since he thinks someone needs to be in charge, but he’s a good guy when you get to know him. So super protective of us that he made this rule that says we can only refer to each other by our code names when someone’s around, but, considering you’ll know us all sooner or later, I thought I’d get the ball rolling.”

“He’s not going to know us.” Wildcat snapped. He crossed his arms. Craig slapped him lightly on the chest.

“He’s going to join, so yes he is.” Craig said.

Both Delirious and Wildcat spluttered, voicing their disagreements right away. Cartoonz rolled his eyes. “Of course he’s going to join.” Cartoonz boomed. He interrupted Delirious and Wildcat before they could deny it. “There’s a room for him, and a need for him. I’ve never met anyone who’s better at what they do than Delirious. We could always use another guy who knows what he’s doing.”

“Besides, Brian is just getting back into it after a month of bed rest. We could use someone to cover in case something goes wrong until he’s completely back on his feet.” Ohm said. “Use it as a trial run.”

“No need for a trial run.” Nogla said. “Delirious is worth it. He won’t betray us and he’ll get the job done.”

“It would make us an even more formidable threat, too.” Craig said, batting his eyes at Wildcat. “Delirious has a reputation way beyond anyone in Los Santos. In some ways, he’s probably even more famous than Vanoss. Can you imagine what it could do for us on paper? Not to mention he has the skills to back it up.”

“That reputation comes with some darkness. Who knows how many enemies he’s made along the way.” Wildcat said. “I don’t want to hear anything else about this until Vanoss gets back.”

His tone said that it was final. Craig dropped his eyes, looking anywhere but the man next to him. Delirious felt sick. There was no reason for everyone to be arguing about him. He wasn’t going to stay and risk messing up this gang. That’s why he split from Cartoonz the first time- he didn’t want his best friend ending up dead. Now he had reconnected with him, but he wouldn’t stay. This gang was too important to Los Santos- even a lone wolf like him knew that. They were actually doing things to fix the city. If he stayed, everything would go wrong. Wildcat was right, he had made enemies along the way. Quite a few of them. If he committed to this gang, those enemies were sure to catch up with him, and they’d burn the place down.

Ohm tapped him on the shoulder. The man jutted a thumb towards the stairs. He was extremely discreet, so much so that not even Cartoonz noticed.

“I’m showing Delirious the bathroom.” Ohm said, breaking the silence. All eyes turned to him, and Delirious wondered again if Ohm could see. Maybe the bandana was meant to keep his cool. Eyes tended to reveal emotions, even for the calmest. “If we’re going to wait for Vanoss to get back, he might want to know.”

Ohm grabbed Delirious by his upper arm, practically dragging him from the still staring group. They hurried up the stairs. Though Ohm told the group they were going to the bathroom, they continued past each floor. From what Delirious saw, the third floor was some type of giant game room, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth were all bedrooms. The seventh was full of desks and rolling chairs. A large whiteboard was against the back wall. One man was seated at a desk, typing away on a laptop. He had earbuds in and didn’t react to them at all.

Ohm opened a door at the top of the stairs, leading Delirious out onto the roof. His breath was taken away. Laid out in front of them was the entirety of Los Santos, lit up for the night. To their left was the ocean, just visible in the distance. What was most amazing was what must have been the only place in Los Santos where Delirious could see the stars, besides if he drove up the mountain. At this point of the night, the moon was already high above them. He hadn’t realized how late it was.

Ohm sighed, hands back in his pockets. “Best view in the city. I thought it’d be a nice place for you to catch your breath. I love those guys, but they can get a little intense.”

“Thanks.” Delirious said. “You were right. I was getting a little overwhelmed.”

Ohm shot him a crooked grin. “So, you get overwhelmed? I was starting to think you were just as insane as the stories say.”

“What do you mean by that?” Delirious asked. Ohm shrugged.

“I’ve heard a few things on the street. That’s my job, and it would be yours too, if you joined. I’m supposed to listen and then, when we actually do a job, I’m supposed to shoot at whatever moves. I’ve gone undercover a couple times, too. Not my favorite. Anyways, from what I’ve heard, you’re a psychopath with a death wish. You don’t feel pain, fear, anxiety, or anger, only pleasure at getting a kill. You’re a lot different in person.” The grin softened. “You know, we could really use your help.”

“Everything will go wrong.” Delirious said. There was something about Ohm that felt safe. He started spilling the truth before he could stop it. “Whenever I get close to someone, they end up hurt. I know what people say- ‘it comes with the job’ and ‘we all lose people eventually’, but it’s different with me. If I help out a gang, someone ends up dead.”

Ohm opened his mouth to speak, but Delirious continued.

“I joined a gang once.” he said quietly. “Maybe six months after Cartoonz and I went seperate ways. They were strong, and some of the most skilled people I’d ever met. They knew what they were doing, bottom line. One of them was kind enough to show me around to their other location, something small that they’d been working on. By the time we came back, the entire main base had been destroyed. Someone set off a bomb. Everyone inside was killed, but only a few had been from the blast. A gang I’d pissed off a year or two back found out I’d joined them, and destroyed everyone. They were skilled but they didn’t stand a chance.” If Ohm’s eyes had been uncovered, and his own face free from the obstruction of his mask, they would have made uneasy though understanding eye contact. Instead, Delirious elected to stare out over the city. “I left Cartoonz in case that would happen, yet I was stupid enough to go back on my own promise and ended up getting some good people killed. I don’t know about this gang, but I can’t let that happen to Cartoonz. He’s my brother, and the only guy who’s stuck by me all this time.”

“He’s like that, even though he likes to pretend he’s some sort of asshole,” Ohm chuckled. “There are guys here that have their own enemies. We’ve been attacked before. Believe me, the people here are the strongest in Los Santos. If we get killed, we get killed fighting for our city. That’s how we are. There isn’t a single one among us that’s going to go down because of someone else’s past. We’re too stubborn.”

Ohm awkwardly reached out a closed fist and nudged Delirious in the shoulder. Similar to Cartoonz, Ohm felt like a long time friend. Delirious wasn’t one for spilling himself to someone new. He was too smart for that. Like most things, it could mean life or death. But Ohm has such a balanced personality that Delirious kept forgetting they’d only met less than two hours before.

“No one’s going to force you to stay.” Ohm said. He laughed. “Well, Cartoonz might try, but we both know he wouldn’t make you do something you don’t want to. This is a strong group and we could use you. Just consider us.”

“Your boss doesn’t even know I’m here. He’s not going to want me.” Delirious scoffed. Ohm sent him a knowing look before turning back towards the door.

“You’d be surprised. Come on, we’ve been out here long enough.”

Delirious checked the seventh floor again as they passed but there was no sign of the man at the laptop. He wondered how many members were in this gang. Like Ohm, he’d heard a lot of things along the way, but there was almost nothing on this gang, despite how legendary they were becoming. He guessed that part of it was that anyone who had access to that information was killed, or they cared too much about their lives to be spouting anything.

“I'm telling you, I'm fine!” A new voice was yelling from below them. Delirious could hear it from two floors up. “I don't need a replacement!”

Ohm picked up the pace down the stairs and Delirious hurried after him. The whole group they’d left were still there, though they'd all transferred so they were seated. There was only one new person, who Delirious recognized as the man from the seventh floor. He was gesturing wildly, and obviously angry. However, just like Wildcat, no one seemed to care, so it must have been a common occurrence.

“Droidd is wrong! I'm at the peak of performance!” The man had an accent like Nogla’s, though it was easier to understand.

“Shut up!” Wildcat snapped. “No one’s replacing anyone.”

The man crossed his arms, scowling at the group. Delirious decided that he didn't want the man to notice him at all. Marcel had remained calm, Wildcat had yelled at them but hadn't done anything, but Delirious had a feeling that this man was going to throw hands.

“Did you have a nice time in the bathroom?” Cartoonz asked, grinning. All eyes turned to them, and, Delirious was right, the man did advance on him like they were going to fight. Ohm stepped straight in his path, blocking him.

“Ohm, move,” the man growled.

“He's doesn't want to join,” Ohm said. “He doesn't want to, but we're going to make him if Vanoss approves. That's a big if.”

“Just think, he can be another newbie for you to push around in training. Smitty and Bryce will be thankful for that,” Marcel said.

“Delirious doesn't need training,” Cartoonz laughed. “Though I'd like to see him take on the obstacle course. He's always hated things like that.”

The man was quiet for a moment, watching Delirious around Ohm’s head. Another wait. Delirious hated waiting.

“Whatever,” the man huffed. Ohm stepped out of the way and Delirious could see that his calm smile had returned. “You can call me Brian for now, but I'll make this clear, I got the name Terroriser for a reason.”

"It's ‘cuz he terrorizes people that he doesn't like,” Nogla chimed, causing a round of snorts to move around the room. Delirious couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, especially when Brian turned and sent Nogla a hard glare. Nogla didn't seem to care, so maybe it was a joke after all.

“Delirious, do you want to sit down?” Craig asked, leaning over the back of the couch to look at him. Delirious shook his head, rejecting the idea quickly, but Wildcat responded before Delirious could get any words out.

“Make him stand. If he's so great, he can manage.” He received another slap on the chest from Craig, though it was just as lighthearted as the first time.

The conversation ended. Brian made his way to one of the stools at the island with Nogla while the rest of the group lounged on the couches, that is except for Ohm. Delirious was thankful that Ohm continued to stand, looking out over the room like he was watching everyone. The whole bandana thing really threw Delirious off.

He stood there for maybe five minutes before Wildcat started to squirm. Whatever he'd been looking at on his phone must not have been entertaining.

“Whatever!” he yelled, throwing his hands into the air. Delirious jumped but none of the others even reacted, though it looked like Ohm’s calm smile had turned into some form of subdued smirk. Wildcat rounded on Delirious, pointing at him. “You! Take a fucking seat. We're all going to watch some fucking football or something.”

He wasn't going to take no for an answer, Delirious knew that. So he made his way over to the farthest couch from Wildcat. Ohm followed after him, sitting down on the next cushion. Compared to Cartoonz, who looked like he was doing everything he could to keep from laughing at Delirious, Ohm was like an angel sent from the heavens to protect him. If he got through this day, and that seemed like a very slim chance judging by Wildcat’s easy rage and rough disposition, Delirious would thank Ohm majorly.

Despite his worry, it was a relaxing time once he realized no one cared about him anymore. The other men quickly got into the game, cheering and cursing and threatening to fight each other. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in such easy company. They felt like a family and, sitting there watching the game with them, Delirious felt like a part of it all. At one point, Wildcat even ran over and gave him a high five, laughing loudly. It seemed that they were on good terms after that.

“Gosh, it's loud in here,” a light voice said, coming up the stairs from the garage. Delirious was on alert immediately, sitting up straight and reaching into his pocket, hand grasping onto the pocket knife he kept. A part of him said that he had done something bad and put himself in danger by getting relaxed. There was something else inside saying that it was okay and this person couldn't possibly be bad because they were one of Cartoonz’ friends.

Two men came up from the stairs. They looked pretty similar at first, with pale skin and sandy hair. Both of them saw Delirious but neither one reacted poorly. The younger looking of the two even waved cheerfully at him.

“You guys were gone forever,” Marcel groaned. “Did you bring anything back?”

The older of the two held up a paper bag, throwing it easily to Marcel. He caught it, laughing and wiping a fake tear from his eye.

“Aww, Scotty, you do love me,” he joked.

The older of the two, who must have been Scotty, flipped him off.

“Save it for Simone,” Scotty said. He made his way to Marcel’s couch, sitting down next to him. As Marcel started to eat, he snagged a few fries from the bottom of the bag, prompting a friendly fight between the two of them.

Delirious was so focused on Marcel and Scotty that he didn't even notice the other one approach him. It wasn't until there was a hand in his face that he looked up at the younger of the two men.

“Hi! I'm Bryce,” the younger man exclaimed. Delirious was rattled but he took the offered hand and shook it. “I'm guessing that you're Delirious?”

“I am,” Delirious replied. Much like Ohm, Bryce gave off an air of someone who just didn't belong in a gang. However, while Ohm did look a little intimidating, Delirious was suspecting that he was a softy. Bryce looked sweet but was probably deadly.

Bryce nodded excitedly, plopping down on the couch next to Delirious. “It's not often that we have people over, but most of us have been wondering when you'd finally show up. Cartoonz talks almost nonstop about how great you'd be with us.”

Cartoonz, who was on the other side of the room, choked on the beer he was taking a sip, coughing. Out of the corner of his eye, Delirious saw Ohm grin.

“I do not!” Cartoonz spluttered. He rounded on Bryce, who looked like he was doing everything he could to keep from laughing. “Sure. I've mentioned him once or twice, but that's it!”

“You're lying,” Bryce sing songed. Cartoonz growled and rushed to pull the younger man into a headlock, much like Wildcat and Nogla a few hours before. They wrestled with each other, laughing and biting off playful insults, though Cartoonz was much more creative with his words.

“This could be yours too.” Ohm said quietly. Delirious looked over at him to see that Ohm was staring at Bryce and Cartoonz much like a mother would. That said, Delirious still couldn't see his eyes, so he couldn't really tell what was happening in Ohm’s head.

“It can't,” Delirious said back.

“It really could.”

There was something about Ohm that said he knew something he wasn't letting on to. The man was almost cryptic, scratch that he was wearing a bandana over his eyes, he was cryptic. Still, Delirious didn't feel threatened by him.

This place and these people reminded him of home. Not the house where his parents had lived, but of Cartoonz and him playing in the pond down the road and of nights staring at the stars with his friends. Something about this group was safe. He was surrounded, just as Ohm had implied earlier, by strong people, and not a single one was looking odd at him anymore. For the first time in a very long time, Delirious felt safe.

.

.

.

Delirious couldn’t remember falling asleep, and he definitely couldn’t remember when a blanket was draped over him. He sat up, looking around the dimly lit room. Someone must have turned off the lights, though the television was still on, muted but displaying some B-list action movie that he somehow recognized but couldn’t remember the name of. He could make out the shapes of Wildcat and Craig laying on their couch, and Cartoonz spread out on his. Ohm had made his way over the fourth couch. Besides that, the others seemed to have left to go to their respective rooms, or wherever it was they were.

The clock on the oven displayed four fifty three. Delirious, no matter how hard he tried or how tired he was, couldn’t sleep through the entire night. He hadn’t been able to since he left home. It made sense that he’d be on high alert while constantly on the move. It had only gotten worse when Delirious had split from Cartoonz, and again when the gang he joined was slaughtered in a day. Most nights he found himself up six or seven times, waiting up to thirty minutes to fall back asleep.

His breath was just calming and he was close to falling back asleep when he heard a door slowly open down the stairs. He peaked open an eye, thankful that his mask was still on so whoever was walking up from the weapons room wouldn’t see him watching.

It turned out to be two men who came up the stairs. He could just barely make out their shapes, unable to identify any features. They moved quietly, though they both paused to look at Wildcat and Craig and seemed to be very amused by what they saw. The shorter of the two, who was only a bit shorter, made his way up the stairs to the next floor while the taller opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. From the light coming from the fridge, Delirious could make out short black hair and muscles. He might have been Asian, but Delirious, like many Americans, didn’t pride himself on identifying which Asian country a person came from. Still, while he acted like he didn’t pay much attention or that he wasn’t worried about those around him, Delirious had always been good at noticing details and remembering them. Not movies, sadly, he’d never been good at recalling movies.

“How’d it go?” Wildcat asked. His voice was real soft, and it seemed that only Delirious and the other man had noticed it. Delirious knew for a fact that Cartoonz had great hearing, and there had been many occasions where Delirious had attempted to do something while the other slept only for Cartoonz to hear his almost silent movements and wake up. Yet, Cartoonz continued to sleep.

“Nothing unusual. Nanners said that there was an extra crate on one of the freighters that docked Wednesday, but they checked it and it was as expected, just an extra one.” the man said. His voice was smooth and low.

“Must have been an error while taking inventory. No big deal.” Wildcat responded. The man grunted in response. “What’d the crew say?”

“Said it was a simple mistake. Max told them to wait an extra day so they could check with the supplier to make sure everything was in order, but they were gone by Thursday morning. They don’t seem that worried though.” the man said, cracking open the beer. “That supplier has never done us any wrong, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt this time.”

It was silent again after that. The man sat at the counter, drinking his beer and staring into the darkness of the kitchen. If Delirious had to guess, that was Vanoss. Sitting over there at five in the morning was one of the most feared and powerful men in Los Santos. It made him a little nervous but Delirious knew that he hadn’t been noticed. When Vanoss did find out that there was a strange man in his base, especially a heavily rumored hitman, things might not be as calm and serene as they were as Delirious laid there.

Delirious felt something stir inside him at the sight of such a powerful man acting like any old guy. He wanted to know Vanoss. He wanted to be a part of whatever was going on in this gang. Ohm was right, this was what he wanted and where he wanted to be. When morning came, he’d start on doing what he could to convince him that he was worth it. Until then, he felt his eyes grow heavy and sleep take hold of him, with the image of Vanoss drinking his beer across the room as the last thing he saw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking the time to check this out! I've been trying to get into writing more, so if you want to send me a prompt on Tumblr at goldiegooblog, it'd be much appreciated :)


	2. Chapter Two

“Wake up bitch.” 

Delirious’s eyes snapped open. It took him a second to remember where he was and what he was doing there before he was able to focus on Marcel, who was standing over him. The man grinned.

“Might wanna be at attention before the rest of the crew rolls their sorry asses out of bed and make their way down here. Ohm’s making breakfast.” Marcel walked away before Delirious could voice a response. 

He sat up, looking out over the room. Wildcat, Craig, and Cartoonz were all missing in action, and there was no evidence that any of the couches had been used except for his own. Marcel and Scotty were seated at the island, watching Ohm, who was still wearing his bandana, make pancakes. Somehow Delirious wasn’t even surprised that one of the most famous gangs in Los Santos was extremely domestic in the mornings. 

Delirious stood, stretching and folding the blanket. He knew for a fact that he looked ruffled but couldn’t bring himself to do more than adjust his sweatshirt and run a hand through his hair. It wasn’t like he had any clothes or toiletries at this place anyways, so there wasn't much good that would come out of worrying about it.

“Good morning.” Ohm said, turning to face Delirious. He flipped some of the pancakes without looking, which would have been so much more spectacular if Delirious wasn’t getting used to the fact that Ohm did everything without looking. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Delirious answered. He made his way to the island but didn’t sit at one of the stools. The three of them didn’t seem to care.

“I’m Scotty, by the way.” Scotty looked over at him with a crooked smile for a brief second before turning his attention back to the magazine in front of him. 

“Nice to meet you.” That’s right, Scotty had never said his name to Delirious. It was the other one, Bryce, that had introduced himself. The two of them were probably extremely different judging by the way they smiled. Bryce had a very open face while Scotty looked kinda devilish. It was alright with Delirious considering he was pretty devilish himself. “I’m Delirious.”

“Oh, I know.” Scotty said. His eyes never left the page about some new video game. 

“So, did you change your mind?” Ohm asked. Delirious nodded, then realized that Ohm really couldn’t see him. He was already cursing that bandana and he had only known the other man for a day.

“If you would have me, it would be an honor to join you all.” Delirious said. Marcel let out a large sigh.

“Thank god. I thought you were going to be so stubborn that it was going to take days and it would be a whole big thing and I’d hate you by the end of it.” Marcel groaned. But, he smiled wide at Delirious. “Welcome to the Squad. Oh, and you can call me Marcel now.”

“Oh, he’s joining?” Wildcat asked, walking down the stairs. He yawned and scratched his stomach as if almost completely disassociated with the conversation.

“Of course he is.” Craig said from behind him. “Are we that surprised? He was one of us the second he walked in the door, I mean did you hear him cheering during the football game? He’s like a second Luke.”

“He basically is a second me.” Cartoonz said, coming up from the weapon room. He was toting three packed duffle bags but still managed to wipe a fake tear from his eye. “I taught him everything I know.”

“I’m older than you.” Delirious grumbled. “Also, why are you acting like I’m already a part of this? I thought Vanoss had to approve of me or something.”

“Vanoss? He will. He’s a smart guy, he knows who you are and what you’re capable of.” Wildcat said. He took a seat on one of the couches, leaning his head back against a pillow. 

“I thought you didn’t want me to join.” Delirious was getting confused, and he hated being out of the loop on something. Nothing irked him more than being the only one that didn’t understand. 

“I was testing you.” Wildcat said, rolling his eyes. “If you were going to roll over and die or leave without putting up a fight like a little bitch, I wouldn’t want you in the Squad. Yet, here you are. You passed the test.”

“He got power crazy.” Craig whispered to Delirious. That sounded more accurate.

“What’d you say bitch?” Wildcat called, but Craig just laughed and joined him on the couch. 

Cartoonz dropped the duffel bags next to the island, moving to swipe a pancake from the growing pile. He narrowly escaped the spatula as Ohm swatted at him. Ohm didn’t look too mad, though he did move the plate to his other side so it would be farther away from the group.

“I grabbed some things from your apartment.” Cartoonz said to Delirious. He nudged the duffel bags. “There’s a room upstairs that you can take. It’s next to Bryce’s.”

“How’d you find my apartment?” Delirious asked. Cartoonz just grinned, tapping his left temple. Delirious couldn’t help but scoff. Cartoonz wasn’t good at intel or tracking people down. At least, not good enough that he could have found Delirious’ apartment in one night. 

“Delirious.” Ohm said. He held out a cup of coffee, smiling. 

Of course. Delirious couldn’t help but grin. Cartoonz hadn’t found his apartment after all- Ohm had. 

He took the offered cup, thanking the other man. Over the years he learned how to eat and drink with his mask on but it wasn’t easy. If he could avoid it, he tried to. That said, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to just take it off. They’d see his face eventually, honestly Cartoonz probably had him memorized, but he didn’t know if he wanted to yet. Ohm didn’t take off his bandana, that he knew of, but did Delirious have to take off his? Would it be a proof of trust in the group?

Delirious didn’t know what he was doing. He was new to this whole gang thing. There hadn’t been time to go over these things back in the gang he almost joined years back. That was over before it even started. So, what was he supposed to do?

“Be yourself.” Nogla suddenly muttered. Delirious wasn’t sure where he had appeared from, he was too caught in his own head, but the man was there. He patted Delirious on the shoulder before turning and reaching into a cabinet for a mug. 

“Did Lui ever come back?” Craig asked. Nogla shrugged.

“Lui does what Lui does. Who knows when he’ll be back.” Nogla responded. 

“What time did Evan and Brock get back? I didn’t see them when I went to bed.” Marcel asked. 

“It was like five.” Wildcat said. “Brock went straight to bed but Evan was up for a little while.”

“Does he ever sleep?” Scotty muttered, causing some of the others to chuckle.

“Do you guys ever stop talking shit?” This new voice made Delirious jump. He wasn’t prepared for it, swinging his head to look at the stairs. 

Vanoss was standing there, looking like some sort of model. He had tousled black hair and looked of some sort of Asian descent, just like Delirious had suspected, but he wasn’t anything like Delirious had assumed from the stories he’d heard. He was tall and muscular, wearing a black shirt, black jeans, and a red jacket. Delirious expected some man in a fancy suit and tie, like most of the gang bosses in Los Santos- too powerful to be afraid and too rich to fight for themselves. The man on the stairs and the man from the night before were not like any other gang boss in Los Santos. Delirious already knew that. If there was any gang that could change this city, it would have to be this one. This was where Delirious wanted to be and this is who he wanted to follow.

There was a chorus of “morning” that passed around the room, but the small conversations and chatter between some of the others didn't stop. It was just another difference from any other gangs Delirious had ever observed. Most of the time, if a boss was in the room people would stop talking until they were given permission. Not here.

“All good down at the docks?” Cartoonz asked as Vanoss made his way around the island to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Mostly. There was a little inventory error but it's all good. Nanners and Gassy have it under control.” he replied. Ohm nodded thoughtfully, passing Vanoss the carton of cream. Vanoss filled the remainder of the cup with cream and sprinkled in two spoonfuls of sugar. To Delirious, it wasn't even coffee anymore. 

Vanoss looked up from his coffee and straight at Delirious. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, not moving, before Vanoss took a deep sip of his coffee, letting out a contented sigh.

“So,” he started, looking back at Delirious who wasn't sure what to do. “Who’re you?”

“I'm Delirious.” he answered. Vanoss hummed, taking another sip. 

“He's the hitman I was telling you about.” Cartoonz said. He leaned forward to rest his hands on the island. Vanoss nodded.

“That's right. If I remember correctly, you called him ‘bat shit’ and a ‘clown’.” Vanoss grinned as if joking but Delirious knew for a fact that Cartoonz had probably said just that. 

“Well, he's not wrong.” Delirious said. He turned to Cartoonz. “Is it the makeup?”

“And the personality.” Cartoonz joked. 

“So, you want him to join?” Vanoss asked. All of the conversations stuttered to a stop, and Delirious could feel a hot blush rising on his neck. He didn't mind these people but he didn't like that they were all staring at him, waiting to see his fate.

“I do.” Cartoonz said.

“You do?” Vanoss echoed. Scotty awkwardly set down his spoon, moving his hand away from the island as if it would burn him. Delirious felt the same way.

They all seemed to stand there, suspended in a thick silence. The air was heavy and Delirious cursed everything that had ever been. He thought that Wildcat said it was going to be easy and Vanoss would know who he was and what he was capable of. Yet, here he was. 

“I want him to join too.” Ohm said, breaking the quiet. All eyes turned off of Delirious and to Ohm, and it felt like a huge weight had been taken from his shoulders. 

“Me too.” Nogla said.

“Me three.” Craig followed. 

Vanoss’ attention flickered between the three of them, and then he shrugged, a huge smile appearing on his face.

“Well then, welcome to BBS.”

Cartoonz let out a sigh, clapping Delirious on the back. The others all grinned at him, and he couldn't help but grin in response though it was hidden by the mask. Ohm laughed that cheerful laugh of his, flipping a final pancake onto the plate.

“Who wants breakfast?” he asked, met only with exclaims of delight. 

Ohm’s cooking was delicious, Delirious discovered, though part of it might have been the cloud he was floating on. His heart felt full and the others were treating him as one of them. They weren't holding back, already joking and poking fun at each other. It was much like how Delirious and Cartoonz had always been, but on a whole new scale. 

“Oh, so he's a member now?” Bryce had asked when he finally came down the stairs. Cartoonz nodded all proud, going on and on about how great it was going to be.

They finished breakfast and helped Ohm clean up. After that, everyone went their separate ways to do with their day what they wanted. So Cartoonz and Ohm led Delirious up to his room with promises that they'd help him make it a place he'd want to go to sleep at night.

“These guys are my family, but when I'm on a job I'm not thinking about them because it makes my heart hurt imagining never seeing them again. Instead I think of my room and how I want to sleep there just one more time.” Ohm said. Delirious somehow felt himself agreeing. He didn't have a home, he hadn't had one in so long. His apartment hadn't been anything to look forward to. It had always been the thought of Cartoonz and how he would never see him again. On more than one occasion, that very thought had been the reason he panicked and lost his cool. 

His room was on the fifth floor, next to Bryce and across the hall from someone name Smitty who he hadn't met yet.

“Ohm is on the sixth floor and I'm on the fourth.” Cartoonz said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. “There's no real order to how the rooms were chosen, that's just how they were given out. Lui was supposed to have this room but he either sleeps in his little room down in the hangar or up in Nogla’s room.”

“They have bunk beds.” Ohm said. “Lui gets the top bunk always. It's a big thing with those two. They're the only two that sometimes share a room besides Brock and Brian, who have the fourth room on your floor.”

“Really? Why do they share a room?” Delirious asked. Cartoonz and Ohm smiled.

“I mean, they've been married going on four years, what else are they supposed to do?” Cartoonz said. 

“Oh.” was the only thing Delirious could come up with. He didn't have a problem with two guys or two girls being together, considering he tended to swing that way himself, but he really couldn't imagine Brian being the type for married life. Though, how civil was their married life if they lived in a gang house and spent their days taking people out and running from the cops?

The room was nice. Like, the room was the nicest room Delirious had ever been in without the instructions to kill someone. There was a wall of windows in the back looking out over the city with floor length baby blue curtains hanging off to the side should he want them. A queen bed was pushed to the side facing a dresser. Besides that, it was empty, leaving room for anything he'd want to add.

“I was airing it out last night. There was a disastrous prank that Lui played on Smitty where Lui left twenty five pounds of raw fish in here to rot until someone finally figured it out. The whole floor smelt like fish for weeks.” Ohm said. Cartoonz laughed at the thought, setting down one of the duffle bags on the floor next to the dresser. “Tyler finally had a fit and went around to each room looking for the source of the smell.”

“Tyler?” Delirious asked. He had a guess though. From what he’s seen, if there was one person in this crew that would have a fit, it was-

“Wildcat.” Ohm and Cartoonz chorused. Delirious nodded. Figures.

“Anyways, it should be all good now.” Ohm said. “We’ll give you a little while to get unpacked and settled in. Just find us if you need us.”

“Or one of the other guys. They’re okay, I swear.” Cartoonz followed up. He nudged Delirious with his shoulder, dodging a playful punch and making his way to the door. Ohm chuckled at the two of them and followed Cartoonz. He closed the door as they walked out, leaving Delirious in his new room by himself.

He knew that he should be a little self conscious in this new space. Delirious had never liked new things, and, especially when he was a kid and teenager, had a hard time with accepting or instigating change. When he was on a job, or tracking someone down, a part of his mind turned off. But in day to day life, he found himself sticking to the same routine and going to the same places to eat and relax. A new room should have been a big adjustment, and he should have been uncomfortable.

Yet, he wasn't. He felt very much at home, more so than the apartment he'd been staying in for almost a year. He worked at unpacking his bags, moving quickly to fill up the drawers in the dresser and stack little items on top. When he would have a steady income again, which he assumed he would while working with an established gang such as the BBS, he figured that he'd finally get around to buying that gaming setup that he always wanted, and maybe a dog. A dog would be nice.

Delirious laid face down on the bed. He was surprised by how soft the sheets were. Why would they need such soft sheets if no one slept on them? It didn't matter now, he decided, because he was using them.

There was a knock on the door, and Delirious shot up. For a split second he felt embarrassed, as if he'd been caught doing something wrong, before realizing that it was no one could see him and, oh yeah, it was his room now.

He opened the door, revealing Marcel standing there. The man jutted a thumb towards the stairs, a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

“Just got a call from our guy down at the docks, Nanners. He said something’s up. Vanoss told me to round up some guys. Wanna come?” he asked. “It won't be anything big. Probably just talking, but it'll get us out of the house.”

“You want me to go with you?” Delirious asked. Marcel looked almost annoyed, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms.

“Listen bitch, you’re a part of this now. I want some bros to go, people I know who won’t complain the entire time. Do you want to come or not?” 

Delirious chuckled. “How do you know I won’t complain?” 

“Because you don’t seem like the the type.” Marcel turned on his heel, heading for the stairs. He paused, looking back at Delirious with a look in his eyes that screamed apologies. “Oh, and, ditch the mask. It’s a little too obvious.”

“Ditch the mask?” Delirious echoed quietly. His hand moved to the strap on the back of his head, feeling the leather. It was sturdy, just like how he was with the mask on. Without it, he wasn’t sure who he was? Was he Jo- no. He was not that person anymore. He hadn’t been called that name since Cartoonz left. 

He could be him again. Maybe. This was a whole new unknown. A gang- a possible family. That was different. He could be different.

His finger pulled at the leather and his mask slid off. He held it in his hands for a split second, smiling down at it. It was now or never.  
The door closed behind him, leaving the room empty of living inhabitants. Resting on the dresser was a hockey mask more famous than any NHL team. It would be needed again someday, but not now.


	3. Chapter Three

“Woohoo!” Brian yelled, laughing. Delirious and the others in the car watched his bottom half, all of them unamused except for Brock, who was chuckling at his husband. The rest of his body was stuck through the sunroof. 

“What was that about being too obvious?” Delirious asked Marcel, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV. He thought he caught Vanoss’ eyes flickering towards him in the mirror but he wasn’t sure. “He can stick his head out of the sunroof and scream as we zoom past, but I can’t wear my mask?”

That time, he definitely heard the driver, and gang boss, chuckle. 

“I don’t get why you’re bitching, you were wearing makeup under it the entire time.” Marcel said, voice lazy. He was scrolling on his phone, slumped against the door. “So shut up.”

“First of all it's face paint.” Delirious feigned offence. Brock and Nogla laughed in the seats behind him. “Secondly, I thought you said you were sure I wasn’t going to bitch and complain.”

Marcel hummed in response. Delirious sighed, leaning back in his seat. Craig, who was also on his phone, moved out of the way as if on autopilot. He honestly wasn’t sure how they could be on their phones in the car, he got too carsick.

“Sorry about him.” Brock said, leaning over the seat so he could talk to Delirious. He was wedged in the back between Nogla and Scotty. “Brian was put on house arrest after a bullet to the left thigh. Our doctor hasn’t given him the go ahead to leave until today.”

Delirious nodded. He looked back up at Brian, painfully aware that every movement of his face could now be seen. It was hard getting used to these people while getting used to being maskless after so long. The guys didn’t seem to care, though they had been referring to his clown makeup to try and get a rise out of him. It was oddly easy to jump straight into banter with these people. He hadn’t met some of them yet, but those he knew seemed easy enough to get along with. 

“Lui said he and Smitty will meet us. They were doing a run though with a drone in that field not too far from the docks.” Nogla called from the back of the car. Vanoss nodded in acknowledgment but said nothing. 

Brian’s head peeked down from the sky roof, eyes connecting with Delirious. His hair was disheveled and the top two buttons of his shirt had mysteriously disappeared. With excitement gleaming in his eyes, he sent a wild grin towards Delirious, before disappearing back up. Though Brian couldn’t see him, Delirious couldn’t help but return his own grin.

Brock must have seen him, for the other man laughed and reached a hand over to Delirious’ shoulder, letting it rest comfortably there. 

“I think that you’ll really appreciate the warehouses we have.” Brock said. “I'm sure you’ve been in some of them, though. Maybe seventy five percent of ours aren’t under our name, so sometimes gangs will try to pull something over an unprotected building, but they’ll be met with us instead.” 

Delirious could tell that Brock was trying to be humorous in some way. From what he’d seen, Brock was always trying to make a pun or something. It was refreshing at first, what with most of the other guys using him as the butt of the joke or just plain trying to intimidate him, but it was starting to get on his nerves just a little bit. Not Brock or the puns, no he loved puns, but someone would always start yelling about how dumb it was and then Brian would lean over with a huge smile on his face and Brock and Brian would share a kiss and all of the guys would say something about it being gross, and so on and so on. They’d only been in the car for twenty or thirty minutes at most, yet this whole cycle had occurred at least six times, and even more before they got in the car. 

There was no punchline. Well, maybe there was, but the SUV rounded a corner onto a street lined with giant warehouses, and they mostly fell silent. Delirious wasn’t entirely sure which ones belonged to them, but he assumed that they owned some that were much closer to the docks and the water. Those were the warehouses that truly profited, and Delirious was never sure how anyone came in possession of those. 

Surprisingly, though it was a cheery Tuesday morning, there weren’t many people working. At least, not outside. Delirious hadn’t been known to frequent the docks during daytime so he couldn’t know if this was unusual, but the others in the car were acting strange. They knew more about this area than he did.

As they neared the docks and the water, Delirious couldn’t help but feel that something was off. Brain plopped down from the sunroof, closing it up with a press of a button. Brock’s hand lifted from Delirious’ shoulder and brushed some hair back into place. Still, neither of them seemed especially lovey dovey like he’d seen from them all day. Marcel and Craig had both pocketed their phones, and Scotty, who had been practically collapsed against the seat, sat up straight.

“Something is off.” Vanoss said. No one had been expecting anyone to speak, and this almost tense atmosphere had hit all of them, and someone behind Delirious knocked a body part against the car when they jumped. “I doubt anything is going to happen, but stay on alert.”

There was a collective nod, and Delirious felt him nodding with them subconsciously. They continued driving for ten or fifteen more minutes with all eyes watching around them. It was almost like they were expecting something to come at them any second. 

Though they were rigid and prepared the entire rest of the drive, they arrived at a huge warehouse right on the water without problems. Delirious followed Brian out of the car and didn’t miss Marcel pulling a pistol from the glovebox and pocketing it. Scotty interrupted his line of sight as he jumped from the SUV and stretched, groaning about hating the backseat.

“This way.” Vanoss said, though they all knew where they were going except for Delirious. The car remained parked where they left it, and they walked away without a care in the world, as if this area of Los Santos wasn’t known for thieves and assholes.

Delirious followed the group to a door on the side of the warehouse, holding the door open for Nogla and Craig before following them into the darkness. The outside had been so sunny, with the golden midday beams reflecting off of the sparkling ocean, and the fresh smell of salty sea spray permeating the air. Inside was dark with hanging lights making circles on the floor and shadows following them as they walked between stacks of crates and shelves packed with all sort of suspicious boxes. Delirious was surprised that it did not have the normal musk of a warehouse but a bright smell of peppermint and vanilla, though it was still not as fresh as the ocean. 

They rounded a corner and then headed straight, reaching a wall of doors. Vanoss continued towards one of the doors, opening it and gesturing for the rest of the group to follow. Even Marcel seemed to stutter in his movements for a second, as if feeling the same eerie air that Delirious was, but they complied and continued after the gang boss.

The room was large office, with a few desks and rolling chairs pushed against a wall of windows in the back of the room, and filing cabinets against the rest of the walls. A large conference table surrounded by chairs sat in the middle of the room, facing a projector. Empty cans with labels exclaiming roasted cashews and almonds were stacked on the desks and some of the cabinets, each of them holding something different. Pencils and pens filled one, another held what looked to be golf balls, and one more was spilling over with cat stickers. Besides that, the office was extremely well kept and organized.

Sitting at two of the desks were two men. One was caucasian with short hair, who noticed them right away. The other was probably of Hispanic heritage. He finished whatever he was writing before looking up at them.

“Thanks for coming back.” the caucasian man said, pushing himself from his chair to approach the group. “When we heard that one of Sunrise’s ships came into the bay last night, we knew something was up.”

The other spun around in his chair, facing them. He held a stack of papers in his hands and skimmed them while he spoke.”They weren’t in the schedule to come back here for a few weeks, which is why Sham contacted us. We tried to prepare a dock for them, thinking there had been an error in the books on our end, but the ship dropped off the radar and we haven’t found it yet.”

“It’s gone?” Brock asked. “Just like that?”

The two men nodded solemnly. 

“How does a boat that size just disappear? No one saw where it docked?” Vanoss asked.

“No. Sham and Goldy have been watching the mouth of the bay and they haven’t seen it leave either.” the caucasian said.

Marcel swore under his breath and crossed his arms. Each of them looked to be in a similar state of disbelief and frustration, and Delirious was a bit ashamed to say that he didn’t exactly understand what was going on.

“You’re thinking it’s smuggling, Nanners?” Vanoss asked. The caucasian, who must have been the esteemed Nanners he’d been hearing about which meant the other man was probably Gassy, nodded once again. 

“Guns or people?” Nogla piped up. 

Now the conversation made sense to Delirious, as his blood ran cold. Smuggling guns was bad for Los Santos because it just added to the crime and desperation in the city. Smuggling people meant, well, their city was delving into deeper darkness than Delirious had imagined. He knew there was some shady nonsense occurring with prostitution and the such, but slavery and kidnapping was a whole different situation. It was the type of thing that required the beat down of some big tycoon and his empire, that’s for sure.

Nanners and Gassy shared an uneasy look as if deciding whether or not to speak, but they both steeled. Nanners cleared his throat before continuing, and promptly increasing the anxiety of the room. “Maybe both.” 

“Bringing in guns and taking out people.” Gassy explained. “We’ve been monitoring the missing people’s inventories for the past four or five months after Slam brought it to my attention that there’s been an increase of unsolved disappearances. At least five women and girls go missing each week and they aren’t found. That’s a five time increase from the last seven years. That, and one or two boys and men disappear per week too. We didn’t want to believe that it could be this type of thing, but it’s entirely possible.”

“Is this the first time a Sunrise ship has done something like this?” Brian asked. He looked thoroughly upset, and Delirious hoped he wasn’t blaming himself and his injury for this situation. It couldn’t be Brian’s fault, but people blame themselves in uncontrollable situations, and Brian seemed like the type of guy who would do just that. “Because they can’t have been keeping that many people hidden in a warehouse somewhere for months waiting for a ship this size to show up. Someone would have noticed.”

“There have been a few blips of odd data in the past eight or nine months.” Gassy said. “Nothing big, or at least not big enough for one of our men to notify Nanners or I about it. We were looking through some old docking specs yesterday while making sure that this was just a one time thing, and we’ve realized that some smaller Sunrise ships have made it pass us.”

“There’s a pattern, too. One every other week, coincidentally alternating with your checkups with us. Through our research, these boats could hide probably fifteen people inside of them.” Nanners said.

“So why a big ship this time?” Craig asked. They all stopped at that, looking at each other as if waiting for someone to have a definite answer. Delirious’ mouth moved before he could stop it.

“Either this job is too important to pass up, or they think they’re invincible now.” he said. They all stared at him with wide eyes and he felt nervous, as if he’d done something wrong. “I mean, they might have someone willing to buy right now that needs a lot, or they feel that they’re more powerful than whoever they’ve been hiding from. I mean, most people know that the BBS rules the docks and some of the city, but maybe they think that they’re above you now.”

“They’re not.” Marcel snapped, but Delirious could tell that he wasn’t mad at him. 

“You two continue keeping an eye out, and make sure that Sark notifies all of your boys about what’s going on without too many details.” Vanoss said. Nanners and Gassy nodded. “We’ll have at least two of our primary members down here per day, making sure nothing goes wrong with our docks since we need to keep control of this area and this is our most important warehouse. Let’s have more of your men patrolling the other warehouses and the area. We’ll start researching on where these boats are going and try to track down who we need to destroy. You two make sure to stay safe, and share that message with Sark, Sham, Slam, and Goldy.”

“Will do.” Nanners said, and Gassy grunted in an affirmative response. “We’ll send the word out to some of our sources that we need some eyes on the situation and information.”

“Alright, let’s go and tell the boys.” Vanoss said, turning on his heel and walking from the room. Delirious spit out a quick thank you before he left, though he wasn’t sure why, and hurried after the group.

As they pushed out into the fresh air again, Delirious couldn’t help but feel a little sick. Of course this was what they found out on the first day of his joining. Just his luck.

“We should wait for Lui and Smitty.” Nogla said. The group must have agreed with him, for they stuck around for a little while longer.

Delirious sat on the edge of the dock, letting his bare feet rest into the water. It was a pretty hot day especially just chilling in the sun. The water wasn’t particularly cold, but it was better than nothing. He stared out into the bay, watching some of the huge vessels in the distance. Any one of those could hold people, he thought. Now it was his job to help protect them, these people of Los Santos. 

“Mister Smitty?” came a small voice from behind him. Delirious turned to face a small boy, no older than eight, standing behind him. The boy had tan skin and baggy clothes, and scrapes on his face. The true shocker was the fishing pole and tackle box he held confidently in his hands. The boy’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry Mister. I thought you were Mister Smitty.”

“That’s ok.” Delirious replied. He was a little confused at how this kid knew Smitty. Wasn’t Smitty a member of the BBS? 

“Can I fish here while you sit?” the boy asked. Delirious nodded, shimmying over so the kid had more room. He watched as the boy set down the box and opened it up, sticking a worm onto the hook and then casting the line with a finesse Delirious wouldn’t have believed him capable of. They remained there in a comfortable silence before the boy spoke again. “Who are you if not Mister Smitty?”

“You can call me Delirious.” The boy looked a bit suspicious at that, but didn’t speak up. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Ignasio.” the boy said. “Mister Smitty calls me Nasio.”

“What are you doing here, Ignasio?” Delirious asked. Ignasio sent him a look.

“You can call me Nasio.” he said. Delirious waited for an answer, feeling a little uncomfortable, before realizing that maybe Nasio wanted him to try again.

“What are you doing here, Nasio?” he tried. Nasio smiled.

“I fish here everyday. Sometimes, Mister Smitty comes and talks with me while I do.” 

“You fish here everyday? Don’t your parents make you go to school?” Delirious asked. Nasio shook his head.

“I don’t have parents and I don’t go to school. I just catch and cook the fish and eat them.” Nasio seemed completely casual and had seemingly no problem with the thought of his parents being dead. “Don’t worry, Mister Delirious. I see that face you’re making. I sleep in the pews of the church way over there and the priest clothes me and the other children. I have somewhere to go at night.”

“Delirious!” Craig yelled down the dock. “We’re good to go.”

Delirious scrambled to stand, pulling on his shoes. He wasn’t sure that they weren’t going to leave without him. 

“You come here everyday, Nasio?” he asked. The boy nodded. “Can I come visit you sometimes? I’ll try and bring Smitty with me if I can.”

Nasio grinned. “Of course, Mister Delirious!”

Delirious set a hand on Nasio’s head, ruffling his hair, before rushing down the pier to get to the car. Nasio waved after him, and it made Delirious feel a little bad leaving him there.

The first thing he noticed upon nearing the SUV was that there were nine people standing around it, not including himself, and only eight seats inside. Now, Delirious had never prided himself on his math skills, but he was pretty sure there was not enough room for all of them. That said, Lui and Smitty, who he assumed were the extra two people, must have gotten to the warehouse with some vehicle.

“I’m not going on the motorcycle again!” someone was yelling. “I’ll die if I get back on!”

“It’s fine, Nogla will go with Lui on the motorcycle.” Craig said. Nogla spluttered his oppositions.

“Lui is a devil on that thing. There’s no way a big guy like me will stay on!” he argued, gesturing to his height compared to the small latino man standing next to him. That must have been Lui. He didn’t look that intimidating, though Delirious could picture him placing the twenty five pounds of fish into what is now Delirious’ bedroom. From what Delirious could see and what he knew, he looked mischievous. 

Delirious stood between Craig and Brock, waiting for the conversation to finish. They were getting pretty heated though, but as usual, Delirious could tell that they weren’t actually upset with each other. From across this impromptu circle that had been formed, he made accidental eye contact with Vanoss. The boss smiled, and Delirious couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes kinda crinkled and how relaxed he was.

It was decided that Lui and Nogla would be the ones on the motorcycle, or at least that’s what Delirious thought the argument was still revolving around though he wasn’t sure. He was also pretty positive that Nogla had absolutely no say in the situation, but he wasn’t about to speak up and risk getting volunteered on the Irish man’s behalf. They piled into the SUV while Nogla complained from the outside, peering in through Marcel’s window.

Brian, Brock, and Scotty seated themselves in the back. Brian must have decided that he had sustained enough ear damage and hearing loss from the way there. Either that or Brock had swayed him into being a little less dramatic. That left Delirious, Craig, and the other new person, who was probably Smitty, to arrange themselves. Craig hopped in first and Smitty swept an arm towards the door, offering the middle seat to Delirious. He had never been a fan of middle seats, but he figured a good first impression on the boy whose room was across the hall, and who may or may not be involved in a prank war, and who he wanted to visit Nasio with, would be a good idea. So Delirious complied with an uneasy and probably not at all convincing smile.

Smitty was actually not at all what Delirious had expected. Maybe it was Smitty’s off appearance that made Nasio less concerned over Delirious’ clown makeup, now that he thought about it. Smitty couldn’t have been older than twenty or twenty one, which was young but not unheard of for a member of a gang. He must have been albino or something, with pale skin and white hair, but dressed in all black. A pair of glasses with one red and one blue lense were perched on the top of his head, holding back some of his hair.

The boy had a potty mouth though, Delirious was finding out. He swore over fifty times in the first ten minutes in the car, and that was probably tame for him considering the subdued reactions of those around them. Delirious wasn’t a saint by any means, and he had already experienced the extent, or rather lack thereof, of the swearing of others in the group, but Smitty was ridiculous. Delirious hadn’t spent a lot of time around millennials recently. Maybe this was what everyone was talking about.

Smitty pulled a KitKat from his pocket, unwrapping it. He leaned forward to look past Delirious and at Craig. Delirious couldn’t deny that he was curious, watching the kid stare at Craig while remaining perfectly still. Finally, Craig looked up, or at least that’s what Delirious thought had happened. Without making any expression, Smitty bit down into the KitKat, taking out a huge chunk of it of all four bars. 

Though Delirious had been watching this entire time and had witnessed the entire thing, he was not at all prepared for the ear splitting shriek that Craig let out.  
Smitty was laughing so hard with the bite still in his mouth and Delirious found himself more worried that he was going to choke than the fact that Craig was now leaning completely over him in order to try and strangle the boy. Craig was spluttering and yelling the entire time, voice a full octave higher than normal.

“God, your voice is so annoying!” Brain snapped from the back seat, swinging his arm to try and slap at Craig, but Craig was having none of it. 

The entire rest of the car found it amusing, though. Marcel had apparently video taped the entire thing. He was watching the video over and over again, which was just infuriating Craig more and more. No one seemed to care that Delirious was literally in the middle of these two, and the fight was getting increasingly intense the longer Smitty dismissed Craig’s swings. 

“Come on guys. You’re going to hit Delirious.” Vanoss called from the front.

“Hey, I’m not doing anything.” Smitty laughed as Craig pounded him once again on the leg. 

“You’d think the atmosphere would be a little different.” Brock said. Only Delirious and Brian heard, though said husband had little to no reaction from what Delirious could tell. That said, Delirious didn’t exactly voice his agreement either.

They finished their drive, pulling up through the secret back garage door and into the assigned parking space for the van. Every vehicle had an assigned parking space, including the hidden twenty five in the additional garage a floor below. Delirious had yet to see the floor open up and reveal this secret level, but he was sure that it was just as meticulously organized and pristine as the garage.

Lui and Nogla pulled in behind them. As Lui slowed, Nogla toppled off the bike and onto the floor, rolling to a stop. At first Delirious waited for a cry of pain, but it never came. Well, it wasn’t because of his fall off of the motorcycle. Instead, the man let out what must have been a cry of warning and vomited on the floor. Delirious was so immediately concerned for the poor man who had been forced onto a motorcycle with a crazy man apparently, that he didn’t quite register the groans of disgust and calls for a mop around him. 

Somehow Scotty was placed in charge of cleaning up after Nogla. Though Delirious thought it should be Lui, he once again found it in his best interest to keep his mouth shut. For the talkative man he knew he was, he’d been oddly intent on not saying anything.

Bryce and Wildcat were already in the living room when the group made its way up the stairs. They were engaged in a thrilling game of Go Fish that Bryce must have been winning, considering the freshly crumpled state of some of the cards. To say that Wildcat had leapt at the chance to stop playing while ‘retaining his dignity’ was the understatement of the century.

“Where’s Ohm and Cartoonz?” Vanoss asked.

“Roof. They’re airing some of the clothes from the last mission.” Bryce answered, stacking up the cards and putting them away. At Delirious’ probably confused look, he elaborated quietly while Vanoss gave Wildcat a quick rundown. “We tend to wear all black into some missions, but the blood can soak through. So, we have to bleach and redye sometimes and really don’t appreciate the smell.”

Delirious really had to figure out how to get his facial expressions in check.

Someone must have texted Ohm and Cartoonz because seconds later they were down the stairs and at attention. Vanoss was quick and detailed with his overview, not even pausing when speaking of the possible human trafficking that they were dealing with. The two men took it well, neither one speaking until the boss was done.

“This is going to be the biggest job yet.” Cartoonz said.

“Can we handle it?” Ohm followed up, though Delirious didn’t think he looked nervous or even skeptical. In fact, what Delirious was beginning to suspect was the occasional deviousness in Ohm was rearing its head once again. 

He didn’t have time to focus on Ohm however, as appreciation of power came back and Delirious was entirely hooked on Vanoss who said, confidently and with a slight smirk, “Have we failed yet?”


	4. Chapter Four

While Delirious had been temporarily excited, read absolutely enamored, by this first true show of confidence and power from Vanoss who had yet to even impose any air of 'gang boss' around him despite being, once again, one of the most powerful men in the city if not the state, he was beginning to regret joining the BBS at all.

He loved the first four days of being a member and having people around him, he truly did. There was no doubt about that. Being with Cartoonz again was incredible. He hadn’t even noticed just how much he’d missed the man until he woke up to Cartoonz knocking on his door and telling him that breakfast was ready. The two of them were always with each other when they had free time. Well, the two of them and Ohm. 

Ohm had already turned into something of another brother in just the short time that Delirious has known him. He was just as kind and caring as Delirious had assumed. But Delirious was learning that the man had a knack for mischief and a competitive nature, but only if the right buttons were pushed. He was also learning that being with Ohm and Cartoonz was like being with lifelong friends, except both of the other lifelong friends, one of which was actually lifelong, wanted to kiss each other but didn’t know it. Honestly, Delirious was already done with how oblivious they both were and he’d only been with them for a few days.

The other guys were great too. They’d taken him in for sure. Nogla and Lui were always up to talk to him or play some video games, and Delirious was beginning to learn about this so called “Squeaker” persona that Lui had. 

Craig was helpful and showed him around the base, but was still goofy with him. Wildcat had actually gotten louder and more stubborn but never against Delirious. He was just a loud and stubborn kind of guy. 

Delirious and Marcel got along pretty well, both of them sometimes finding solace in each other when the group got too over excited. That said, Marcel was just as quick to scream his head off as Wildcat. 

Scotty and Bryce definitely were not the same. They were both always laughing, which Delirious greatly appreciated, but Scotty was fond of yelling when he was upset and Bryce just never got upset. Bryce was always messing with the others and laughing, but never raging, which did nothing but infuriate the others. It was a quality that Delirious found useful in this industry, and he knew that the others felt the same way. A young kid like Bryce was better off calm in everyday life and thus calm during a job than overly excitable all the time.

Now, Brock and Brian were probably the two of the group that Delirious found himself watching very closely. Obviously they were the same as the other guys: loud, had their quirks, always doing something. Brock was very helpful and kind, and he always seemed to be there when Delirious needed help, like when he couldn’t figure out how to use the washing machine. He was like Bryce in how he was always one of the last to rage and one of the first to laugh, but he had his moments. Brian was almost opposite. He laughed when Delirious would make mistakes, but he also would step in and help him out while he laughed. He was a known culprit for trying to make others rage, as well as raging himself. Still, Delirious couldn’t help but think that the two of them were so odd, surviving so happily and so in love in such an environment. None of the men made fun of them, no they all completely accepted and supported it which couldn’t be said about a lot of the dicks that Delirious had met along the way, but it was a communal living space full of other men and they were constantly checking to make sure no police or other gangs had found them out. They dealt with it well and with ease, and, even more than that, they seemed to be thriving. 

Delirious didn’t think that he could ever do something like that.

Smitty was slightly an ass and slightly one of his favorites in the building. He was loud and petty and always quick to fight, spouting off memes and Vine punchlines going as far back as ten years, doing everything he could to tick off Craig and Wildcat, Brian, and, occasionally, Ohm. That said, he was helpful, always doing what he was asked with minimal complaining. It was nice to have young perspective too. 

Vanoss was the one who Delirious wasn’t sure about. He hadn’t done anything to wrong Delirious, nor had he done anything to help him. The boss was passive from what Delirious had seen. Like Bryce and Brock, he wasn’t one for raging or yelling, though he didn’t laugh nearly as much. He was attractive, that was for sure, but didn’t act like it. There had been few instances of him being cocky, bossy, rude, commanding, authoritative, or any other vocab that could be used to describe the average gang boss. Delirious wasn’t sure what to make of him.

That all said, the members of the gang weren’t what made him want to disappear for another few years. 

For four days, they’d been constantly working. After briefing Cartoonz, Ohm, Bryce, and Wildcat, they went immediately into it. First, Delirious helped Ohm and Scotty clean all of the guns in the gunroom, which took around ten hours. Then it was fixing an engine with Marcel. Next, Wildcat told him to take stock of their explosives and report back. Brock needed to find him a right fitting bulletproof vest, Craig needed to program an earpiece, Brian needed help with finding possible sources of information that could find them the missing ship, everyone needed something from him. Lui broke the wing of one of his drones and asked him to go with Nogla to find their supplier, which put the two of them on a wild goose chase for three hours trying to find a guy that wasn’t in the state. When they finally got back, the other hungry and overworked men had eaten all of the dinner, and what Nogla called ‘their pizza place’ was closed for the night. His bed was comfortable, but Smitty kept waking him up in the middle of the night to ask him to do something, whether it be switch who was monitoring the cameras, ask him to verify the credibility of a source, or, once, to show him a thirty second video of a bulldog riding a skateboard. 

When Delirious woke up Saturday morning to someone knocking gently on his door, he was honestly more surprised than usual. After three long nights of being woken up to a dude standing over him, this was completely unexpected. He felt well rested for once, but if he was being honest, Smitty wasn’t the reason why he woke up every night. In fact, the night before he hadn’t actually slept the entire time. Around three in the morning he woke up in a cold sweat, eyes blurry and the redness of the digital clock across the room from him glaring into his soul. He was up until nearly four, staring at the clock until the numbers finally registered, and then until they blurred back into the unrecognizable. 

Delirious rolled himself out of the bed. The floor was cold on his bare toes and he reminded himself to get some slippers or a rug or something. While his room was a room and it had things inside it, he knew that it would take time to make it his room. 

The last person Delirious expected to be on the other side of his door was Vanoss. He just didn’t think it was going to happen. Not with his hair sticking up and his makeup smudged by drool and tears and toting his sweats. A moment of sheer panic hit him, along with embarrassment for appearing so weak and disorganized in front of a gang boss kind and cocky enough to let him in. But those feelings disappeared when he reminded himself that he’d already seen some of the others in worse condition, and that Vanoss was staring back at him with just as much blear and exhaustion.

He knew that Vanoss was supposed to look gross like any normal person who’s just woke up, but this man stood in front of him wearing a pair of old sweatpants and a hockey sweatshirt hanging half off of him and Delirious’ heart practically stopped. It was a very odd feeling for a someone who didn’t normally surround himself with others, and who hadn’t spent much time with the man in front of him. Delirious was almost offended at his heart’s easily swayed attitude.

“Sorry to bug you so early.” Vanoss said, offering a lazy smile that made Delirious’ traitorous heart melt into a puddle. He tried to sputter out that it was only seven and that it was the latest he’d been allowed to sleep in since he’d arrived, but he could even squeak. “I need to run down to the docks to check in with Nanners and Gassy. It was supposed to be Smitty and Marcel coming with me, but an old buddy of Marcel’s called him saying that he had some info, and I need a different person to come with me. Care to come along?”

“Absolutely.” Delirious said, feeling all of those odd emotions settle and be replaced by the seriousness of the situation he found himself it. Going to the docks was an assignment he’d yet to receive, but he’d heard from Cartoonz and Ohm that it was mostly just hanging around and keeping an eye out. “Give me a second to put on some clothes and then I’ll be ready.”

Vanoss nodded, his smile turning into a grin. “What, you think I’m heading out in these clothes?” he asked, gesturing to himself. The two of them laughed and Delirious found it extremely comfortable. “But seriously, thanks for coming with on such short notice.”

“Any time.” Delirious responded. Vanoss nodded and walked away, disappearing to probably go to his own room. 

Within fifteen minutes, Delirious found himself in the passenger seat of the same SUV from before, next to a much more professional looking Vanoss with a stormy Smitty in the backseat. Said boy was playing angrily on his iPhone and complaining about how horrible of a headache he had. Vanoss was humming in agreement every so often, but Delirious was pretty sure he wasn’t listening. 

“Smitty, take a breather.” Vanoss finally said. The car fell silent, and Delirious took a cautious look into the mirror to see if Smitty was offended, but, much to Delirious’ surprise, he had fallen asleep. 

Vanoss must have noticed his shock, smiling softly. “Smitty gets particularly stressed during big things like this. I’m sure you’ve noticed, considering he wakes you up every night. Sorry about that.”

“It’s totally fine.” Delirious said. 

“He really likes you, just know that. Smitty takes a little while to warm up to people, but you’re practically all he ever talks about.” Vanoss teased. Delirious felt his face heating under the paint and he wished for probably the thousandth time that he was wearing his mask. “It’s always ‘last night Delirious helped me with this’ or ‘yeah when I showed that to Delirious he thought it was fucking hilarious.’ It’s actually kinda funny, you can’t imagine all the stuff he says.”

“Hopefully all good?” Delirious asked. Vanoss snorted.

“All good.”

He nodded thoughtfully, and the conversation ended. Honestly, he could understand both Smitty’s exhaustion and his appreciation. Delirious was only used to a night or two in a row of being up and doing things as his odd end jobs normally only lasted that long. Four whole days of constantly doing things matched with the inevitability of being awoken multiple times in the nights and his own struggle with sleeping through the night was wearing him down. He also found himself liking Smitty’s company. The boy was loud and swore a lot and was always doing something, but he was making Delirious feel much more at home, if that made any sense. The two of them got along, and that’s all that mattered in the end.

“You can sleep too, you know? I’m not going to do anything to you.” Vanoss said quietly. There was a joking tone to his words, but Delirious could hear the genuine sentiment behind it.

That promise must have been enough to make Delirious practically pass out because the next thing he knew Vanoss was softly shaking him awake in the parking lot of the warehouse. 

Delirious really hoped he hadn’t been drooling.

“I’m going in to talk with Nanners and two of his other heads. Smitty is waking up in the back, though it takes him a second. I’ll be out in a little while, but for now you can chill out here.” Vanoss said. Delirious nodded sleepily, rubbing his left eye but watching as Vanoss closed his door and walked into the warehouse. From where he was sitting, he could see Nasio already perched on the dock, fishing in the golden morning water. He looked so small way out there.

Smitty yawned loud, pulling open the door to the SUV and stepped out, stretching. As he settled and finally seemed to be aware of the world around him, he followed Delirious’ gaze, eyes landing on Nasio.

“Hey, Nasio!” Smitty yelled. The kid whipped around and Delirious could see his grin all the way from the car.

“Mister Smitty!” Nasio yelled back. 

By the time Delirious was out of the car, Smitty had already sprinted to Nasio. The two of them were talking animatedly, and Delirious felt his heart melt a little at the sight of them. They could not have been more different but they looked like a pair of cheerful brothers. 

He wandered towards them, listening as they chatted about something Delirious couldn’t quite comprehend with his foggy mind. Nasio spotted him, hand shooting into an exaggerated wave. 

“Hi Mister Delirious!” he exclaimed. With his other hand, he tugged at the front of Smitty’s shirt. “Mister Smitty, you brought Mister Delirious with you!”

Smitty laughed. “I guess I did.”

Delirious smiled and stopped in front of them. Some part of his heart was ecstatic at how excited Nasio was to see him. It had been a long time since anyone had reacted to him like that. The closest had been Cartoonz when he found him in the warehouse.

“Do you two want to watch me fish?” he asked. Delirious just nodded happily while Smitty said something much more affirmative. The two younger boys dropped to sit on the deck, laughing and joking with each other. Delirious stood behind them, responding when spoken to and watching them closely. 

“Delirious, Smitty!” Vanoss yelled from down the deck. “It's going to take another hour or so, are you alright for now?”

They both yelled back that it was alright. Delirious hadn’t even realized that it had been more than a few minutes and, with a quick check of his phone he saw that it had been almost two hours.

“Who was that?” Nasio asked.

“You’ve never met him before?” Delirious asked. Nasio shook his head, and they both looked to Smitty for more clarification. 

Smitty thought for a moment. “He’s my boss, but he’s also my friend. He’s Mister Adam’s and Mister Max’s boss and friend too.”

Nasio’s mouth made an ‘o’ in understanding, and he turned back to the water. “They don’t talk to me.”

“Who?” Delirious and Smitty both asked.

“Your friends and coworkers. They don’t like talking to me and make me move when a boat comes in.” he said. 

“They’re just busy.” Smitty said. “It’s not that they don’t like you.”

Nasio nodded, but he didn’t speak again. Another hour passed, but this time it felt like two or three. Delirious decided that he liked the cheerful Nasio much more than the quiet one.

Vanoss was yelling for them again, this time telling them to meet him in Nanners’ office as soon as possible. Delirious felt horrible leaving Nasio, especially when he was so sad, but he ruffled the boy’s hair and headed into the building. He wasn’t sure if Smitty was following after him but he decided to keep going and leave the rest to Smitty. He knew Nasio better, after all.

“I’ve never seen Nasio like that.” Smitty suddenly said, and Delirious was almost embarrassed that it spooked him. “He’s always so happy. I wonder if he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he is just starting to realize that the people here aren’t the same as those he’s used to.” Delirious shrugged. He didn’t really have any other thoughts on the matter that wouldn’t make Smitty feel worse.

Nanners and Vanoss were seated at the large table with two men that Delirious had never seen. They both seemed to be around Nanners’ age, with similar sandy blond hair, though one of them had a beard. No one acknowledged their entrance, and it was one of the first times since Delirious had met Smitty that the boy was silent. He took that as his cue to shut up and listen. 

“They’re starting to notice us. I know they are. Whoever this group is, they’re too smart not to ignore all of our digging.” the bearded one said.

“It could get dangerous from here on out.” the other one followed up. 

“It’s already dangerous, but it’s more important for us to figure out what is going on and to stop it before it gets out of hand. Sark, I need you to get back in contact with your boys and tell them to keep going, and to not pull out unless they know they’ve been compromised.” Vanoss said. The beardless one nodded. “As for you, Hutch, keep an eye on the your contacts in the drug world. Make sure there aren’t any big supplies coming in while we’re distracted.” 

The bearded one nodded, taking a suck of his vape and blowing the cloud into the air. For a split second, the air smelt like Swedish Fish, but it faded quickly. It was replaced with a thick feeling, and something was so final around them that Delirious felt anxious. 

Sark sat up a little straighter in his seat, finally looking at Delirious and Smitty. He smiled and there was something about it that sent the thought “Dad” spiraling through his head. It was comforting, and the anxiety melted away.

“Well boys, it seems we have quite the job on our hands.” he said, chuckling to himself. Delirious couldn’t have agreed more.

“And to think there won’t be any profit involved.” Hutch followed up. He didn’t look too disappointed though. 

“The profit is in the long run.” Vanoss said. “The faster we dig Los Santos of all of the dirt and darkness like this, the better for any and all of our business.”  
There was a hum of agreement that passed around the small group. They knew that it would take much more to fix their city than to just take down one possible smuggling operation.

The buzz of a phone brought them all of our their individual thoughts, and Nanners reached into his pocket. 

“What’s up?” he asked. His eyebrows rose and he shot out of his seat, rushing to his desk and rummaging through a stack of papers. The group watched in alarm as he flung some of them out of the way. “Goldy, calm down and try to take deep breaths. Tell it to me again.”

“What’s going on?” Smitty asked quietly. He didn’t seem to be expecting an answer. 

Nanners swore, throwing the phone to Sark who quickly took over the conversation with the person on the other side. He then turned to Vanoss, eyes wide.

“Goldy and his group found the place. It’s an empty warehouse, unlabeled and undocumented. We don’t know who it belongs to. All we know is that it’s been remodeled to fit any size ships and load stuff on.” Nanners said. “I’m going to have to cut this meeting short, if you don’t mind.”

Vanoss nodded. “Call us when you find something. Delirious, Smitty, let’s go.”

Sark and Nanners didn’t acknowledge their exit, though Delirious could feel Hutch’s gaze on them. They stormed through the warehouse, bursting into the afternoon air. He couldn’t exactly understand why they were running but he didn’t exactly have a choice to walk behind them.

Smitty waved at Nasio as they piled into the SUV. Delirious was sure that he saw Nasio return a small wave despite the boy’s dismissive attitude a mere half hour before or so. He’d have to make it up to him the next time he found himself at the warehouse.

“You think they’ll be okay?” Smitty asked, leaning forward so he was looking at the two of them through gap between the chairs. Delirious didn’t know how to answer, so he waited for Vanoss.

“Nanners’ men are some of the best, you know that. They’re a big part of our team, even if we don’t see them as much as we see each other. They know what they’re doing.” he finally responded. 

“But will they be okay?” Smitty repeated.

Vanoss didn’t respond.

They arrived back at the base quicker than usual, and Vanoss was half up the stairs to the first floor before Smitty had closed the car door. Despite his seemingly reassuring answers, Delirious could tell that Vanoss was extremely anxious. This was a big job. Even a normally lone-wolf like Delirious knew that. Any number of things could happen. For a powerful gang like the BBS to find out that there was a secret warehouse being used right in their own territory, it could mean a challenge to their authority. If it lasted much longer, their influence could be in jeopardy.

Delirious and Smitty made it up the stairs just as Wildcat rushed past, yelling something about needed to find Brian. 

“Got to go.” Smitty spat out, following after the older man. He left Delirious standing alone in the living room, unsure of what to do and where to go. Delirious imagined that he could help with something, but he wasn’t even sure who was in the base or how to locate where. He didn’t want to hide away in his room either. 

“Delirious.” Vanoss suddenly said, and Delirious whipped around to face the gang boss. He was staring at him, and Delirious felt goosebumps raise on his arms with every passing second that the silence continued.

“Yeah?” Delirious finally choked out. It seemed to snap Vanoss out of fog he was in.

“Come with me.” he said.

They hurried up the stairs and to the seventh floor, where Brian and Wildcat were seated at two of the desks. Smitty was nowhere to be seen, but Delirious had no time to ask about it. Instead, he was forced to focus by Wildcat hitting his fist on the desk. Brian jumped but Vanoss kept moving forward to meet the other two.

“What’s going on?” he asked Wildcat. 

“That warehouse is in our space!” Wildcat yelled. “How are they pulling this shit in our territory? We had it on lock, Evan. The docks were our territory.”

“They still are.” Vanoss snapped. He put a reassuring hand on Wildcat’s shoulder, but his tone was not soft or reassuring at all. “And they will be again. We can’t let one warehouse take us down. We’re better than that. Remember what we’re doing this all for.”

“I know.” Wildcat said softly. Brian and Delirious shared an uneasy look. 

“Keep working on this. We’ll figure it out.” Vanoss said. He clapped Wildcat on the shoulder with the hand already on him, before whirring to look at Delirious. “You and I will help them for a little while, alright? When Cartoonz and Ohm get back from their source, go to them and help them with whatever they need.”

Delirious nodded, taking the seat next to Brian and starting up the laptop there. They worked for nearly two hours, checking every document, contract, report, and owner of the warehouse, but they could not track who had bought it after its previous owner. Wildcat was getting more and more frustrated, at one point walking up and down the stairs for ten minutes to calm himself down. He felt wrong for leaving the three of them when Cartoonz and Ohm returned, but Vanoss and Brian shooed him away.

“Our source had nothing, but it was good to confirm that they’re still aligned with us.” he heard Ohm say as he arrived on the first floor. Ohm was standing, talking with Marcel. Cartoonz was seated on one of the stools. 

“We heard that there’s a warehouse that we’re looking into now?” Cartoonz asked. Basically nodded. 

“Goldy and his boys found one over on the other side of the docks. It was made to hold ships and load things on and off.” Marcel responded.

“Like people?” Cartoonz asked. His voice was tight, and Delirious understood just how angry he was at that idea. The two of them had done a job involving human trafficking once before, and it was something he wished he could forget. 

The three others finally noticed Delirious, and Ohm sent him an uneasy smile.

“Hey bud.” Cartoonz said, standing. “Did Vanoss send you to come help us out?”

“Yeah.” Delirious felt out of place again. Everything was moving so fast and everyone around him was anxious. He could sense it starting to affect him as his own anxiety rose. 

Ohm approached him and reached out a hand, carefully touching Delirious’ arm. All of his sudden panic started to disperse and it was as if Delirious could breathe again for the first time. 

“Thank you for all the work you’ve been doing. I know this has been a big transition for you.” he said. Delirious wished that he could see Ohm’s eyes because he was sure that they were so kind in that moment. At the same time, and though he’d never been one to cry, he was thankful that he couldn’t see all of Ohm’s face in fear that he would have started bawling. 

“Thanks.” Delirious whispered. Ohm squeezed his arm comfortingly then let go.

“I need to fill some more clips. Wanna help me with that?” Ohm asked. 

“Sounds good.” Delirious said.

“Ohm, I’m going to check in with Vanoss about our source and then I’ll come to help.” Cartoonz said. 

Cartoonz and Marcel disappeared up the stairs, the latter of the two needed to inform Vanoss of his own actions of the day. Delirious stood there, watching Ohm stare off into space, before Ohm finally signaled for him to follow. 

Delirious had a bad feeling. He could sense that others were reacting to the same bad cloud of energy coming their way. Hopefully it would pass without problem and these waves of anxiety would leave them.

As if.


	5. Chapter Five

“What the fuck?” 

That scream was most definitely Wildcat. There was no doubt about it.

Delirious and Ohm paused in their filling of the clips, a bullet hanging in Delirious’ right hand as if it would fall at any second. Cartoonz dropped the box of clips he had been moving to the other side of the room. It hit the table below with a clatter, but the noise was ignored.

They sat there in silence, listening to the suddenly eerie calmness of the building. Ohm and Delirious shared a look as Cartoonz made his way to the stairs. He glanced up the stairwell before turning back around to face them. As he opened his mouth to speak, there was an explosion of frantic noise coming from above them. Ohm shot to his feet, bolting after Cartoonz who had already run up the stairs. 

Delirious quickly set down the clip and bullets he was holding. He followed after them, taking two steps at a time to quickly reach the seventh floor. 

What met him was pure chaos. 

Every single person in the room was at a computer, typing frantically and yelling things to each other. The screens of each computer not currently in use was flashing a bright red. Delirious was no expert, but he could tell that there was something very wrong happening.

“What’s going on?” Brock asked, coming up the stairs behind Delirious.

“We’re being fucking hacked!” Wildcat roared, slamming his fist on the table. A monitor fell over but he didn’t seem to even notice. 

“Someone call Nanners!” Vanoss yelled. He threw a phone across the room and Brock effortlessly caught it. “And get Droidd on the phone!”

Brock grabbed Delirious and pulled him down the stairs. Upon reaching the first floor, he shoved the phone into Delirious, who took it quickly, while pulling out his own phone. 

“You call Nanners and just tell him to close down all of the assets and info asap and to move all of his men into their secure lockdown locations. His name should be Adam M. in the contacts.” 

Delirious nodded, opening up Vanoss’ contacts and scrolling through the list until he found Adam. Nanners answered within seconds. 

“I had a bad feeling. Shit.” Nanners hissed. Delirious could hear him shout for Gassy. “Call us if anything changes.”

“Will do.” Delirious said. He wasn’t sure what to do after that. Brock was still on the phone with Droidd, who Delirious thought he remembered as the gang’s doctor. He stood awkwardly, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet while tugging at a loose string on his hoodie. He wished he was wearing his mask so that Brock couldn’t see the worry that was obviously growing on his face. He honestly didn’t think that he’d ever get used to not wearing it.

“Delirious, go get some sleep.” Brock suddenly said. Delirious must have looked confused, so he elaborated. “There's nothing else either of us can do now, and everything is going to get a lot more complicated from here on out. If you thought you haven’t slept much in these past four days, you’re about to be surprised. Go lay down on the couch and rest. I’ll wake you up when everything has calmed down.”

Delirious didn’t have the heart to tell the tired looking man no.

Brock woke him up about three hours later with drooping eyes and a grimace. Delirious could hear Wildcat and Vanoss arguing somewhere above them, but the rest of men who had been working on the computers were coming down the stairs. They all looked defeated, and Cartoonz collapsed onto the couch next to Delirious. He rubbed his eyes before looking over at Delirious. Any strength he’d previously had to open his mouth was lost, and he just shook his head.

“All of our info is at risk.” Brian groaned. Brock moved to sit next to him, rubbing his husband softly on the back. They shared a moment of eye contact that Delirious almost felt inappropriate watching, before Brian pulled Brock into his arms and kissed the top of his head. “We managed to secure our bank account and the identities of all of our higher ups, so we’re all good. The only one we’re not sure on is Delirious because I was in the middle of starting his file when Tyler asked for help. They probably weren’t looking for him though. No one knows he’s a part of us now.”

There was a silence that flooded the room. It was as if none of them could move and they were stuck in place. 

Brian snapped, bringing his fist down on the table next to him. The rest of the room looked up, but Brock stayed relaxed against Brian’s chest. Delirious imagined that he was the only thing keeping Brian from storming out of the base to break something. Over the past four days, Delirious had discovered that Brian’s temper was second only to Wildcat’s and occasionally Craig’s. 

“I wish Anthony was here. He’d know what to do.” Brian said.

“Brian, you did your best.” Ohm said quietly. 

“My best wasn’t good enough to shut the hacker out. If Anthony had been up there, he could’ve turned it around and gotten into their system.” Brock sat up and patted Brian’s cheek.

“That’s why Anthony is our technician and you’re not.” Brock said it so sweetly, but the others in the room could feel the sting. “But that’s just it, Brian. You’re not our technician. You’re one of our fighters. Anthony can’t always be here when something goes wrong, it’s just not possible. You managed to stop them, Brian.”

Brian dropped his head onto Brock’s shoulder, and Delirious felt his heart swell. For a split second, he realized exactly what the allure was of trusting someone with everything and loving someone unconditionally. 

“Delirious,” Vanoss said. Delirious’ gaze snapped to Vanoss, who was standing on the stairs. “Nanners wanted to tell you that he thinks you’re doing great and to keep it up.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Delirious responded. The gang leader grinned.

Everyone in the room was looking at Vanoss, waiting for him to address the group about what to do next. He cleared his throat, and, in a split second, looked a hundred times more exhausted than before. Still, Delirious couldn’t help but mentally acknowledge how Vanoss was the most radiant person in the room.

“Well, we never thought this was going to be easy.” he started, and there was a round of tired chuckles through the group. “We can’t let this break us already. This isn’t the first time we’ve been hacked, and we’ve destroyed anyone who thought they were slick enough to try. That said, whoever this was isn’t going to be easy to defeat. We need to work even harder and even smarter to take them down.”

Wildcat had slunk down the stairs during this speech, and Nogla and Lui had come from the downstairs. The three of them stood off to one side, watching him. Delirious and Cartoonz were on their couch, Ohm on the next one, and Brock and Brian on the third. 

“Wildcat and Craig, go out to meet with Nanners’ guys at that warehouse tomorrow. Goldy will call you to confirm a time and rendezvous point. Nogla and Lui, I need you two to do an air patrol while they do so.” Vanoss said. The three of them nodded. “Brock and Brian do damage control on our online assets and see if we need to do any securing. Ohm, go to Under tonight. Talk to Beard and see what he knows. Don’t let him off the hook. Cartoonz, be his spotter. Hang out in the car by the bridge or something.”

Delirious was familiar with Under. It was a shady club full of all types of informants. Any information could be gathered there. He’d been a few times but decided that he’d be better off with his own people, considering the money-will-buy-my-loyalty attitude of many of the dicks there. Still, it was high end, known for the best information big money could get. Beard was a name that Delirious had heard in the past, but he knew nothing about him besides his control over all information in Los Santos and its surrounding areas.

“How much should I be willing to pay him?” Ohm asked. Delirious could see Cartoonz tense at this. He knew that Ohm had noticed too. 

“If he has concrete information, and you’ve known him long enough to know if he does, whatever he wants.” Vanoss said. 

‘Whatever he wants’- that was a dangerous statement. Judging by the way Cartoonz was practically buzzing with anger, Delirious could tell that this Beard guy wasn’t known to ask for money.

Ohm reached a hand over and set it on Cartoonz leg. The warm fuzzies Delirious had from Brian and Brock disappeared. This is what it was to care for someone but have to watch them put themselves in the hands of dirty, dangerous people. Even if Ohm and Cartoonz weren’t together, which they very well should be if Delirious could say the truth, the two of them couldn’t possibly want the other giving out certain payments for information.

“Delirious, let’s gather Smitty and head to the docks. I want to talk to Nanners in person about what happened tonight.” Vanoss finished. He turned and walked up the stairs to find Smitty.

Delirious looked over at Ohm and Cartoonz, who were pointedly trying not to look at each other. Delirious didn’t understand why. He couldn’t understand why they weren’t looking at each other, and he couldn’t understand why Vanoss kept ordering him to go with him. 

“He trusts you and Smitty.” Ohm said, and Delirious’ face burned. “Don’t be embarrassed, I get it. There’s nothing wrong with it. You and Smitty have magnetic personalities, that’s why you attracted to each other. Vanoss tends to find people like that, it’s how most of us got here, though I wouldn’t consider myself in the magnetic personality category. You three get along really well.”

Cartoonz nodded. He still didn’t look at Ohm.

“Delirious.” Vanoss said. “Let’s go.”

Vanoss and Smitty started down the stairs to the garage, and Delirious stood. He reached a hand out to Cartoonz, who took it. They stared into each other’s eyes, reassuring the other that they would both be alright. It was something they’d done since they were kids. Before leaving, Delirious leaned down and wrapped his arms around Ohm. The two of them hugged for less than ten seconds, but Delirious felt like everything had righted in the world. As soon as he made it into the chill of the garage and the car, everything was wrong again.

Delirious stared out the window as they drove. It was late, but Los Santos was still bustling. It was not nearly as busy as the day time, and the normally popular streets had only small groups or stumbling drunks walking here and there. All of the fluorescent lights were too bright, and they left colored spots in his vision.

“Padiddle.” Smitty said, and Delirious felt the younger man’s fist slightly knock him in the elbow.

“What?” Delirious asked. He watched Smitty raise an eyebrow at him in the mirror. 

“You know, Padiddle.” Smitty followed up. Delirious shook his head. “Come on.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Delirious said. 

“Padiddle!” Smitty stressed, clapping his hands with each syllable. 

“Saying it over and over again doesn’t tell me what it is.” Delirious snapped. There was no heat behind it.

“It’s like Slug Bug.” Vanoss chimed in. Delirious had almost forgotten he was there. “When you see a headlight out, you call Padiddle and punch someone in the arm.”

“Oh.” Delirious said. 

“Exactly. That’s what I said.” Smitty said from the back. He sounded so smug. 

“No you didn’t.” Vanoss and Delirious both muttered, looking at each other in pleasant surprise. They chuckled, and Delirious turned his head to stare back out into the darkness.

Delirious had nearly nodded off when they arrived at the warehouse. He didn’t understand why he was so tired, he’d taken that nap on the couch earlier while others had not. Still, he rubbed his eyes as he got out from the SUV and yawned into the cold air.

Smitty zipped up his jacket, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“It’s kinda cold.” he said, coming to stand by Delirious. “It’s been awhile since it was cold here.”

They wandered to the door, watching Vanoss go inside. Smitty leaned against the wall, puffing out his breaths. Delirious couldn’t remember the last time he could see his own breath in the air.

“Nasio’s still out there?” Smitty asked. He sounded skeptical, so Delirious turned to look. Sure enough, Nasio was settled on the dock, casting his line. “Funny, normally he’s left by now. He says he gets scared here at night, like something bad is gonna happen. I’m going to go check in with him, see if he needs anything.”

“Alright.” Delirious said. 

He wasn’t entirely sure how long he stood there looking out into the dark water. It could have been five minutes or it could have been an hour. Smitty and Nasio were still fishing and chatting, and hadn’t moved.

He hadn’t seen a single other person use the parking lot, so the sound of gravel as the cars pulled up was what ripped him from his thoughts. Three black SUVs parked in front of him. It was the first time Delirious was going to meet any of Nanners’ men without Vanoss or Smitty, so he stood a little straighter. 

He wondered if it was going to be a good first impression.

Fifteen men climbed from the cars, all dressed in black. Delirious watched them, trying to remember to smile. Normally he could just hide behind his mask. Now he had to actually put on a figurative mask and be pleasant.

There was the cocking of a gun. Delirious’ blood ran cold.

Bullets started flying before he even registered what was going on. He threw himself around the corner of the warehouse, ducking behind two crates. The bullets didn’t let up.

“Shit, shit, shit.” he muttered, reaching into his pocket and whipping out his pocket knife. He really wished he had remembered to grab the gun from the glovebox, he had just been so tired. 

A bullet whizzed past his head, and he looked up to see a man coming around the crates with a glock out. Instincts took over and he grabbed the man’s jacket, pulling him to the ground. The pocket knife, handle smoothed perfectly in his grip from years of use, jammed right into the man’s chest, ripping through clothes and skin. Delirious knew how to use it better than any weapon. It was his trusty partner.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to use the glock he wrestled from the man’s dead grip.

With a gun, Delirious felt much better about his odds. Fourteen vs one guy with a gun and a pocket knife was how Delirious was used to doing things.

Smitty.

Delirious swore again. Smitty and Nasio were still out on the dock. He knew for a fact that Smitty did not have a weapon. Hopefully the two of them had snuck away when the men first started shooting, seeing that they were focused on Delirious.

Delirious peaked over the crates, firing off three shots. He heard at least two groans of pain, and he figured that his aim hadn’t deteriorated in the week since he’d last taken someone out.

There was a scream. The scream of a younger person. 

“Smitty!” Delirious yelled into the air. Delirious shot from behind the box, unloading his entire clip. He took down at least eight or nine of them and, figuring that his odds were good and his friend more important, rushed out from behind the crates towards his attackers. 

He stabbed at them, slashing and cutting each person around him. Adrenaline, pure and raw and familiar, pumped through his veins. He found it so ironic that he felt so alive while killing others. 

A single shot rang through the darkness, and Delirious looked to where it came from. His eyes followed the aim of the final man’s gun all the way to the start of the dock, where it was pointing at a frozen Smitty. He felt relief sweep through at the sight of his unharmed friend. 

But Smitty’s eyes were wide in terror, his gaze reaching further down the dock. There, Delirious finally noticed, Nasio stood facing them, hands clutching his stomach. The boy tottered on his heels, face contorted in confusion and pain, the only thing moving in a suddenly still night. 

As if the wind blew him over, Nasio tumbled backwards into the bay, water splashing high above the surface.

“Nasio!” Smitty shrieked, sprinting down the dock and throwing himself into the water. 

Delirious, rage bubbling over, threw himself at the gunman. In one stroke he slit his throat, dropping him to the concrete. He ignore the bodies and blood all around him, running down the dock. Smitty rose to the surface, gasping for air, just as Delirious reached the edge. He held up Nasio, and Delirious pulled him out of the water. 

Delirious got to work, setting the limp boy onto the dock and pressing on his chest. Smitty pulled himself up from the water, teeth chattering and soaked. He watched Nasio’s face, grabbing the boy’s hand and pressing his other hand over the wound to keep him from bleeding out.

“Come on, Nasio.” Smitty begged. His voice sounded so desperate. 

Delirious pumped, press after press, but Nasio did not move. He didn’t want to admit it, he couldn’t admit it. He wanted to save Nasio- for Nasio, for Smitty. 

A hand came down on his shoulder. 

“Delirious.” Vanoss said. “I’m sorry.”

“No!” Smitty screamed. “There’s still time!”

“It’s been fifteen minutes.” Vanoss said. They both looked at him, unbelieving. There was no way that fifteen minutes had gone by, there was no way that it was truly over.

Smitty let out a single, heartbreaking sob, collapsing onto Nasio’s body. His body shook and it pained Delirious so much to see him like that. 

How could it have happened? 

How could Delirious have not saved him?

Vanoss squatted, wiping tears from Delirious’ face that Delirious hadn’t even noticed.

“I’m sorry.” Delirious whispered. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Vanoss said. “You did your best.”

“My best wasn’t good enough!” Delirious shouted. It echoed off of the water, breath fogging in the cold and hanging in the air. Delirious wanted to throw up.

Vanoss pulled Delirious into a tight hug. He rubbed Delirious’ hair and shushed him as Delirious’ tears turned into ripping sobs. Delirios had never felt so useless in his entire life. He failed Vanoss, he failed Smitty, and he failed Nasio.

And now that little boy was dead.


	6. Chapter Six

There was a knock on the door. 

“Delirious? It’s Brock. Can I come in?” 

“Yeah.”

Delirious could hear the door open and close but he didn't look up. He didn't want to see anyone, not after the heart wrenching disaster of the night before. It felt shameful to look at any one of Smitty’s close friends and family after failing. He couldn’t imagine how the boy was doing, seeing as he'd locked himself in his room as soon as they’d returned to base and Delirious had shortly thereafter done the same. Their rooms were directly across from each other, but it felt like they were so far away.

“How are you feeling?” Brock asked.

“Like a disaster.” 

Delirious really was a cloud of misfortune on anyone around him. He truly realized it now, that wherever he went bad things would always follow. The trafficking, the hackers, and Nasio. 

He must have sobbed at just the thought of the young boy’s name because Brock put a reassuring hand on his back.

“Delirious, I know you’re going to get tired of hearing this, but it’s not your fault. After the hacking we should have been prepared for an attack. You took on fifteen trained men on your own and protected Smitty. I can’t imagine what would have happened if you weren’t there.” Brock said. Delirious squeezed his eyes shut, heart paining at the thought that, yes he had protected Smitty, but he let Nasio die. 

He heard Brock sigh, but it wasn’t frustrated. The other man left the room, and Delirious was both relieved and heartbroken by it. He didn’t want anyone to see him like this. But it also felt like he was disappointing everyone in the BBS. 

Still, he couldn’t make himself go into the openness of the base with this heavy feeling of death over him.

The door opened again. 

Someone sat down on the bed next to Delirious, reaching over to run fingers through his hair. There was only one person in the gang who had such soft fingers, and it was almost embarrassing to Delirious that this was how he identified his gang leader.

“How are you feeling?” Vanoss asked. 

Delirious didn’t want to answer. He was afraid to show weakness to such a strong man. He didn’t want Vanoss to think of him as a baby who needed to cry every time he killed someone. He didn’t want Vanoss to regret letting him in the gang.

“Delirious, look at me.” Vanoss urged. Delirious shook his head against the pillow. Of course, now he looked like a man child. “Come on.”

Delirious shook his head once more.

“I’m giving you one last chance.” Vanoss warned, voice still soft. Delirious shook his head again.

In a split second, Vanoss had flipped Delirious over and pinned him to the bed. Delirious stared up at him, very aware of how this was the first time anyone in the gang had seen him without face paint. How odd it felt to be laid somewhat bare, emotionally and physically, in front of such a strong person.

“That’s better.” Vanoss said, smiling. “It doesn’t feel right talking to you without seeing your eyes.”

“My eyes?” Delirious choked out. Vanoss nodded.

“They’re blue. Like the ocean.” 

They stared at each other and Delirious was confused at how comfortable they both seemed with Vanoss hovering over him like that. 

“I have to admit, I was a little shocked when I walked out and there were fifteen dead bodies on the ground.” Vanoss said.

“Sixteen.” Delirious whispered, and his voice cracked.

“Sixteen.” Vanoss corrected. Tears were welling back up in Delirious’ eyes but now they were plain open for Vanoss to see. He felt so ashamed. 

One of Vanoss’ hands moved to wipe a stray tear, much like the night before.

“Hey,” Vanoss cooed. “Everything is alright now.”

“No it’s not.” Delirious cried, shaking his head. “I let a little boy die. What is the point of doing everything we can to protect this city if I can’t even protect one kid?”

The tears turned into sobs. Delirious felt so worthless, crying and hiccuping as Vanoss hushed him and wiped his cheeks. 

“Delirious-“ Vanoss started, but Delirious shook his head violently. 

“Don’t call me that. Please.” Delirious sobbed. “Delirious is a murderer and a hitman.”

“Then what do you want me to call you?” Vanoss asked.

“Jonathan.” Delirious whispered. 

“Jonathan.” Vanoss tested. Despite his current panic, Delirious thought that it sounded so right. “Call me Evan, then.”

“Ok, Evan.” Delirious said. 

The tears stopped, and they stared at each other again. 

“I’m sorry I’m crying like a little bitch.” Delirious muttered.

Vanoss shook his head. “You’re not, Jon, you’re not.”

Jon. They both noticed that he said it. It wasn’t the first time that he’d been called Jon, but it was the first time he hadn’t punched the prick who called him it right in the face. Besides Cartoonz occasionally teasing him, he normally hated 'Jon'. It’s what his good for nothing dad used to call him. But when Vanoss said it, everything felt right.

Vanoss cleared his throat, hands leaping from Delirious’ skin and settling awkwardly in his lap. 

“Jonathan, it’s hard, I know it is. You shouldn’t be afraid to take some time to yourself. We all understand and are here for you.” Vanoss said. 

“Thank you.” Delirious said. For a moment, they sat quietly there, each in their own minds.

Vanoss stood up, still looking at Delirious. 

“Do you want to come downstairs and get something to eat?” he asked. 

Delirious nodded, reaching out a hand. Vanoss grabbed on to it, helping him up. 

They ended up chest to chest, looking into each other’s eyes. It turned out that Vanoss was a few inches taller than him. He hadn’t noticed.

“Come on.” Vanoss whispered, breath hot against Delirious’ skin. “Let’s go.”


	7. Chapter Seven

It was a few hours later when Smitty finally came down from his room. Delirious was worried that he was going to avoid him or go back upstairs, but Smitty sat right next to him.

“We need to destroy them.” he said quietly. “Whoever they are. They can’t go on without paying for what they’ve done.”

Delirious watched him. He couldn’t deny that the feeling was somewhat mutual. Every inch of him burned at the idea of obliterating the gang that had attacked them last night, the same group that was responsible for Nasio’s death. But he had to be the rationale of the two. There were too many dangers in letting personal problems get in the way of a job, especially if this was the same gang the whole BBS had been trying to track down. The risks were greater than the rewards.

Still, he didn’t know how to tell Smitty that. He didn’t want Smitty to feel alone, not when he was grieving. A death like this could mess up anyone, hell it hit Delirious who had killed probably more than a thousand people. Smitty was, comparably, a child, and Delirious didn’t want him isolating himself or throwing himself into harm's way.

“They will be, Smitty.” Delirious found himself saying. “But not just by the two of us. If we rush into it with guns blazing, more people we care about could get hurt.”

Smitty looked up at him, and Delirious noticed that there were tears in his eyes.

“I know.” he whispered, and his voice cracked. In one swift motion, Delirious pulled Smitty into his arms, holding him against his chest. He let Smitty cry, not saying anything and gently rubbing his back. They sat there for almost two hours, with Delirious just cradling him and Smitty trying to take in deep breaths only to burst into tears once again. A few times one of the other guys would walk into the room, but they understood. They’d silently get whatever it was they were looking for and then depart.

.

.

.

Brock, one of said guys who walked into the room, grabbed two water bottles and headed back upstairs. He set one down next to Brian, taking the seat to his right. Brian grunted in thanks, but Brock knew he wasn’t really paying attention.

“Delirious and Smitty are downstairs.” he said, leaning back in the chair. Brian hummed. “They’re having a good heart to heart, I’m sure. I was really worried about Del there for a second. He seems like the type of guy who would get all knotted inside over something like this.”

“Del?” Brian asked, pausing in his work to raise an eyebrow at his husband.

“That’s what Ohm and I have been calling him. Delirious is a mouthful sometimes and we don’t know his real name.”

Brian nodded, turning back to his computer. Brock watched him type. He took a quick sip of his water.

“Any luck?” he asked. Brian shook his head.

“Absolutely nothing. I thought that maybe they’d think that they have a one up on us because of the warehouse attack and the hacking and that they’d brag about it somewhere, but there’s nothing. I don’t understand how they can have virtually no online presence.” he groaned.

“Then how do we find them?” Brock muttered.

“That does seem to be the question, doesn’t it?”

The two of them sat there, caught up in their own minds. The entire gang wanted to do something, and were itching for a fight. When they’d heard that Delirious and Smitty had been jumped at the warehouse and a kid had been killed, the entire gang practically bolted to get to work. Any motivation they’d previously had doubled, if not more, but Brian found that any leads had just practically disappeared. How he wished he could be like Bryce, Basically, and Scotty down at the warehouse cleaning things up, or Craig and Tyler off doing whatever it was they were doing. Hell, he’d even take flying around in the helicopter with Lui and Nogla. It would be much more interesting and productive than his own work.

“Anthony should be back tomorrow.” Brock said.

“Really? But this was the first time he’s seen Melina in months.”

“He figured this was pretty important. Once he heard about the hack, he packed his stuff back up and started driving. Besides, he said that Melina understands.”

“You think he’ll still alternate sleeping on the camera couch and in Scotty’s room?” Brian asked. At Brock’s silence, he sighed. “I don’t understand why he doesn’t just buy a bed and put it somewhere.”

“He doesn’t want to admit that he lives here. Not everyone gets to sleep with their spouse every night, honey. I guess he likes to pretend that he does.” Brock said.

Brian set down his bottle, taking Brock’s hand. He leaned over to gently kiss Brock’s forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

.

.

.

“Keep your eyes open.”

Craig rolled his eyes, pocketing his keys. He could understand why Tyler was especially on edge. It had been a while since the group had actually felt threatened, and to top it off, there wasn’t much either one of them could do until they figured out exactly who they were blowing up. Craig really did understand.

That didn’t mean that Tyler wasn’t being fucking annoying.

Craig wasn’t new to the this type of stuff, they both knew that. He was just as much of a veteran as Tyler was. They both knew these docks like the back of their hands. They’d memorized back alleys, where not to go, who not to trust. Los Santos was their city, and the docks were their kingdom and their domain. Any gang that aimed to ruin that needed to be destroyed. That’s how it had been for almost eight years, since Craig was seventeen and had just met Tyler and Evan. Those had not been simpler times, yet sometimes he yearned for those first few months of havoc that they wrecked as a trio. So much had changed.

He vaguely recognized this warehouse from the old days, which was probably why he was feeling so nostalgic. It looked practically dead from the outside, with boarded up windows and planks of wood falling off, but, from what Goldy had told them, it was completely different inside. Nanners’ guys weren’t going to meet them as they were cleaning up from the attack on the warehouse from the night before, so it was up to the two of them to find their way in.

“Mini.” Tyler hissed.

He was standing by a door so camouflaged that Craig couldn’t even see it until Tyler specifically pointed it out. They worked on prying it open while still leaving little to no trace, finally popping it and making their way inside. The inside was almost completely open, with a deep pool of water in the middle leading to a giant set of doors to let barges in and out. Forklifts were parked against one of the walls, along with ramp on wheels to get things on and off of ships.

He kept his eyes open for cameras, following Tyler up a ladder to the only closed off room. It turned out to be an office looking out and down onto the rest of the building. Filing cabinets were behind a desk that peered down onto the area. Craig went to work at shuffling through the files while Tyler looked in the desk drawers. The folders inside held books marking when ships came in and how large they were. There was nothing listing what they’d held.

“Wildcat, they go all the way back to almost twenty years ago.” Craig whispered. The file in his hand proclaimed a date from April nineteen years before. It was obviously the oldest one, and the first in the filing cabinets. For twenty years this operation had been going on right under their very noses. It was finally coming to light, and biting them right in the ass.

“Mini.” Tyler whispered, voice tight and obviously panicked. Craig looked over, eyes widening when he saw what Tyler held in his hands.

“There’s no way.” he muttered. “This can’t be possible. He’s been dead for years.”

The notepad Tyler held in his hands very surely exclaimed a name Craig had never expected to see again.

_La Chrome_

.

.

.

“Think they’re done?” Nogla asked, picking at his fingernail. Lui shrugged, gently tilting the steering wheel. Nogla could feel the helicopter shift softly, but he was so used to it that it didn’t make him sick anymore.

The docks were dark below him. Most of the warehouses didn’t have outer spotlights, or, if any, just one or two. From above you could tell which ones were important because those were the ones lit up like Vegas or something. Most of theirs were protected with lights, cameras, and guards, but some of the smaller businesses that worked below them either didn’t care because of their high insurance rates or they didn’t have the money to invest in protecting goods no one was going to steal. There was an unsaid agreement in this side of the bay that you didn’t take what you couldn’t carry. Still, dark warehouses were used as frequent gang battle spots and murder locations, like the one Cartoonz had apparently found Delirious in.

“They were gonna call us if there were others inside, ye?” Nogla asked. Again, Lui didn’t answer.

They circled above the warehouse for thirty minutes, waiting for any signs from Craig and Tyler. Besides the chopper, there was complete silence the entire time. Nogla wasn’t used to this lack of conversation. Not from Lui.

“Everything alright?”

Lui sighed. “I don’t know. There’s just something really wrong in the air.”

“Huh?”

“It just feels like we’re up against something much worse than we’ve imagined. I just can’t place my finger on what that thing could be.” Lui said. “They hacked our system, they attacked the warehouse, and killed that boy. It had to have been the same gang, but who could it be? I can’t think of anyone who would have the guts to come after us when they realized we were searching for them.”

“Who knows?” Nogla said. “Hopefully Wildcat and Mini will figure it out while they’re in there.”

“Hopefully.” Lui muttered. “Though maybe it’ll be better if they don’t.”

.

.

.

Cartoonz sat in the parking structure, playing a game on his phone. He hadn’t moved in near six hours, since he’d forced himself to stop pacing outside of the SUV and try to take his mind off of things. Well, it sure hadn’t taken his mind off of anything and now his phone was at thirty four percent. He closed the app and pocketed his phone.

Ohm was still in Under with Beard doing God knows what, Delirious and Smitty had been attacked at the warehouse and apparently the little boy there had been killed, and he still had exactly zero idea of what was going on. He wanted to check in with Delirious, but he was worried that Ohm would text him while he was talking on the phone and Cartoonz wouldn’t pick him up in time, or his phone would die and he’d have no idea when to get Ohm. He didn’t want him to waste a single second more with that Beard asshole.

In all of the years that Cartoonz had been a part of the BBS, if Ohm was told to go see Beard, it meant that they were struggling to find what they were looking for. Beard knew this, and abused every inch of power it gave him. Despite the fact that he had a disgusting soft spot for Ohm and that he never gave information for the right price, Ohm never said no to Vanoss’ order to visit him. Cartoonz could rationalize it. Ohm had been one of the first members of the BBS, the sixth one in fact, and held an extreme loyalty to Vanoss, but Cartoonz didn’t want to admit it. A friend wouldn’t send another friend into the hands of a demon, but apparently a leader would. He didn’t resent Vanoss, no of course not he was one of Cartoonz’ brothers and closest friends, but he felt a twinge of hatred every time he remembered that Vanoss was the reason Ohm was in Under and not at home with the rest of the gang.

The passenger door opened and Cartoonz very nearly threw himself into the steering wheel. A light chuckle met his ears.

“It’s just me.” Ohm said, settling in his seat. The small smile that had appeared on his face with his laughs slowly slipped away until he was staring at the dashboard with a frown.  
Cartoonz wanted to mention his disheveled clothes, the hand shaped bruises on his arms, and the hickies on his neck, but he physically bit his tongue. Nothing good would come with shaming Ohm for something he obviously didn’t want to do. Ohm needed someone to support him now.

“You wanna go home?” Cartoonz asked, voice soft.

Ohm shook his head, hands shooting up to cover his eyes. Cartoonz hadn’t even noticed that his bandana was off, not that he hadn’t seen those sparkling brown eyes many times before. An angry fire burned in his stomach, and he wanted to storm into Under and pull out Beard’s own eyes off for having seen all of Ohm’s face. Not even half of the BBS had.

But Ohm’s whole body started to shake with sobs, and the fire extinguished. He reached over to rub Ohm’s back, shushing him. He hated to see Ohm like this. It had been at least a few months since the man had cried, and he knew that Ohm hated to. Whatever happened with Beard over the past hours needed to be forgotten. It wasn’t worth the information, even if there had been any. One of these times, either Ohm was going to snap and kill him, or Cartoonz was going to march into Under and rip Beard to shreds.

“Wanna get some pizza?” Cartoonz asked. Ohm nodded, moving his hands. He wiped his eyes and gave Cartoonz a watery smile, yet he was still stunning, as usual. “Alright. We can even get pineapple, if you want.”

Ohm finally gave him a real, wet laugh at that, and punched him lightly on the arm. Cartoonz would stay quiet about all this, because, for Ohm, Cartoonz would do anything.

.

.

.

Evan rubbed his eyes, leaning back in his chair. He’d been staring at his laptop for a little over fourteen hours, ever since he got Delirious some food and made sure he was okay hanging in the living room and watching TV. He wished that he could be helping the guys more but he still had to manage all of their assets. Business didn’t wait for underground crime and vigilante work, which somehow came together in the BBS despite the opposing nature of the two things.

If someone had told him eight years before that he would be holed up in his room filling in spreadsheets instead of investigating a warehouse supposedly involved in trafficking that was owned by the same gang that had hacked his gang’s system and attacked two of his boys, then honestly he probably would have shot them in the foot. He was a little trigger happy eight years ago.

The BBS was so different from then. The original three, Tyler, Craig, and himself, weren’t too different, though a little calmer. Tyler and Craig still had their moments of rage, but they had learned to control themselves. He assumed that they were together too, and had always thought that something was going on between them. Marcel, number four, was in a committed relationship and had improved on his engineering skills tenfold. Brock, number five, is married, but he’d kinda been the same matured soul that he was now. Ohm was, much like Brock, not too different. He was still one of the smartest and most skilled individuals that Evan had ever met. Still, he was modest and never asked for anything. Evan always felt bad sending him out for information missions but there was no better guy.

Those were the six. The BBS really started becoming more than just a gang right around when Ohm joined. Those were the days for sure, when decisions mostly weren’t life or death and no one knew who they were.

But Evan wouldn’t give up the other guys for anything. Brian, then Lui, Nogla, and, soon after, Cartoonz, all in a row. The BBS took off. Marcel got in contact with two of his friends from a previous gang, and that’s how Scotty and Anthony joined. Bryce was a kid with a vendetta who turned out to have a heart, and voice, of gold. Smitty just showed up one day, saying that he wanted to join. No one knew how he found the base, or where he learned to shoot a gun as pro as he did, but he got along with them and apparently had nowhere else to go.

Delirious, or Jon as Evan had started to mentally refer to him as, was a wildcard. Evan wasn’t sure who he was, but he knew that Delirious belonged in the gang. He was their number fifteen. There was no doubt about it. When he saw him at breakfast, just a few days before, it almost hadn’t occurred to him that there was someone new in their kitchen. He was ready to see who Delirious, Jon, would become once he was exposed to gang life, once everything calmed down. Jon was special in a way. All Evan had left to do was figure out what that way was.

And eliminate the gang coming after them.

And finish his spreadsheet.

He sighed, cracked his knuckles, and got back to work. The sooner he got it done, the sooner he could blow up some shit.


	8. Chapter Eight

The clock on Delirious’ dresser said eight thirty, but it was so dark outside that he thought it was midnight when he woke up. Rain was beating hard against his windows. He must have forgotten to close his curtains the night before, though he couldn’t exactly remember coming up to his room. After Ohm and Cartoonz had gotten home, and Ohm had wandered up to his room like a ghost, Cartoonz requested that Delirious join him for some drinks. Between the two of them, they drank an entire twelve pack over the course of four hours. Delirious had never been a lightweight or extremely tolerant, he fit somewhere in the middle of the getting drunk spectrum, it had been awhile since he’d last sat down and had some alcohol. Everything after the initial three drinks was a blur, and he definitely couldn’t place the time between beer six and getting into his room.

His head pounded. There was something about beer that made his hangovers ten times worse. Scratch that, maybe it was all the thoughts circling around and around in his head. He was so worried about Smitty, though the boy’s head seemed much clearer since they’d cried it out, but the way Ohm had walked up the stairs like he wasn’t comfortable in his own body made Delirious terrified. He hadn’t been wearing his bandana, though his hood was pulled so Delirious couldn’t see his eyes, and his outfit looked thrown on. It didn’t make him feel better that, as soon as Ohm disappeared, Cartoonz’ unconvincing smile turned into a full blown frown.

Tyler and Craig hadn’t returned from the warehouse, that Delirious knew of, but Nogla and Lui had. Cartoonz pointed their helicopter out while the two of them sat on the roof. Bryce, Marcel, and Scotty were still at the docks, and Vanoss hadn’t come out from his office. The only people that had been acting relatively normal were Brian and Brock. That said, every five minutes Brian was checking how close Anthony, a member Delirious had yet to be introduced to, was to reaching the base from his girlfriend’s house. Really, Brock was the only person who Delirious was confident in their mental state. He wouldn’t be surprised if Brock was always like this, no matter the circumstances. It was a good trait to have, especially in their line of work.

Delirious groaned as he rolled out of bed. It gave him a sense of deja vu. He pulled off his sweaty clothes and got into a fresh outfit. Cartoonz had yet to tell him where the laundry room was, though he said that there was one. He’d also forgotten to tell him that there was a whole floor under the garage with a huge bathroom too. It made no sense to him when he found out since Ohm had taken him upstairs and told the group that he was showing him the bathroom, yet it had been below them after all. He figured it wasn’t the time to ask though. 

With his mask, face paint, and hoodie discarded, he felt like a completely different person. It was so unnatural. None of the others would care, probably, except for maybe Cartoonz. They hadn’t known him for very long and the mask had been off for most of it.

He shut his door, heading down the stairs. Thunder rumbled in the distance, or maybe it was his stomach he wasn’t sure. He was kinda hungry and also felt like he was going to throw up. Now he remembered why he hadn’t gone drinking in a while.

The only person downstairs was Brock. He was seated at the island, scribbling down on a pad of paper. 

“Morning.” Delirious said, coming around the island.

“Morning.” Brock echoed. 

Delirious grabbed his mug from the dishwasher, filling it with coffee. He leaned against the counter. Brock continued writing, though he seemed more and more frantic as he went along. After his twentieth time scribbling something out, Delirious finally decided to speak up.

“What’re you writing?” 

Brock paused, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I’m trying to organize a message for Vanoss to send out to some of our allied gangs, but it’s not working. I don’t know what to say because I don’t know who we’re trying to take out. Normally this is someone else’s job and I just proof read it once or twice, but everyone’s so busy.”

“When do you think we’ll pin exactly who we’re fighting?” Delirious asked. Brock shook his head in an almost defeated way, and Delirious took that as all the answer he needed.

A door slammed in the garage, startling both of them. Two heavy sets of footsteps made their way up to the first floor, revealing a frantic Wildcat and Craig. The pair was toting armfuls of manilla folders spilling with anything between crisp white and yellowing paper.

“Hey, are you two-” Brock started, but Wildcat cut him off.

“We need a gang wide meeting right now.” His voice wavered in what Delirious could only describe as terror, and the two of them leapt into work.

Delirious and Brock made their way up the stairs, banging on doors until people started to come out. Surprisingly, no one was in a bad mood due to their awakenings. But the air was thick and somber because of the knowledge that they had finally made a breakthrough and it was too pressing to put off. Cartoonz grabbed onto Delirious’ arm, stopping him from running up the stairs. 

“This is your last chance to back out before you get in too deep.” Cartoonz whispered. Delirious gawked at him.

“Are you serious? After all of this, you’re telling me I can still back out?” He punched Cartoonz in the chest, hard enough that it pushed him back but Cartoonz wouldn’t feel it in a few minutes. “I’m a part of this now.”

“I know.” Cartoonz said. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Delirious nodded in understanding. He honestly didn’t want any of these people getting hurt. Though he couldn’t say that he had known them for years, he did know them now, and wanted an opportunity to know them in a few years as well. 

“I won’t, I promise. And if I do it’s my fault.”

“Of course, because you’re too fucking stubborn to back off whenever someone tells you to.” Cartoonz chuckled, but it lacked his normal carefree charm. It was like the echo of laughter through an empty shell.

Sure, Delirious didn’t back off when he was told to, but Cartoonz never asked for help.

Within minutes, the entire gang, minus those down at the docks and this Anthony dude, was piled in the meeting room on the second floor. They were seated around a large conference table but they all looked like they wanted to get up and move around. Delirious couldn’t keep from bouncing his leg, or control his eyes as they kept sliding back to look at Ohm. 

Said man was not wearing the same bandana as usual. This one was black with a gray omega symbol printed over where Delirious imagined the left eye to be. It was quite different from the one he had been wearing since Delirious had first seen him. Delirious wanted to assure him that everything was going to be alright but he wasn’t sure it was going to be.

Wildcat and Craig stood at the front of the room talking to Vanoss. They were hushed and animated, though Craig wasn’t expressing the same zest for life that Delirious was used to seeing from him. He watched as Vanoss’ eyes widened in disbelief at something Wildcat finally spat out, and then he called the group’s attention.

At first, Vanoss was quiet, looking down at the folders laid out in front of him. 

“Tyler and Craig just returned from the warehouse that Goldy and some of Nanners’ boys found earlier this week. I’m going to be blunt. The information they found there drastically changes the severity of this mission.” he said.

Everyone seemed to shift uncomfortably in their seats, but no one vocalized any doubts. They had steeled themselves for whatever it was going to be, and they were going to face it together. Delirious had no doubt that this was going to be a do or die job, and, though he knew how powerful the BBS was and still did not know who they were fighting, he knew that this could mean the end of the gang as a whole.

“The warehouse is owned and in current operation by Simon La Chrome.”

There was a collective gasp from about half of the group, while the others just stared in confusion.

“There’s no way.” he heard Lui say. “La Chrome died years ago.”

La Chrome did die years ago. Almost nine years ago. Delirious remembered that day clearly, and wasn’t sure he’d ever forget it. A dark cloud had shifted from overhead and, for the first time since coming to Los Santos, Delirious realized that he might actually live to see it grow from the dangerous cesspool it was to a place where people could be happy.

He wasn’t entirely sure of the details of what happened. No one was. Rumors had spread that La Chrome’s giant base on the edge of the city had been attacked by a coalition of gangs. They’d bombarded the place with bombs and killed pretty much everyone inside. When they finally go to Simon La Chrome himself, they cut off his head and hung it by its nostrils so it was waiting for the police when they finally arrived. The whole thing ended before sunup, and the LSPD gave the gangs time to flee before showing up at what was left of the base. They were just as happy to see La Chrome gone as the entire underground was.

“You’re sure it’s Simon?” Brock asked. “It’s possible it’s someone posing as him or maybe a son. We don’t know if he had kids, I mean he was known for bringing in prostitutes and then killing them. Maybe one escaped or he found out she was pregnant and kept her around.”

“It’s him.” Ohm said. He said it with such finality and certainty that the entire group got chills. “Apparently, one of Beard’s informants spotted him a month or two ago looking just like he did the day the attack was pulled. I didn’t want to believe it, no, I couldn’t believe it.”

“How is it possible? They cut his head off.” Nogla breathed. Smitty looked positively sick next to him. 

“La Chrome was always one step in front of anyone who tried to come after him.” Vanoss said. “Who knows if he found a way to get out a leave a body double and has just been slinking in the darkness.”

“He was a member of underground slave rings and weapon smuggling. It’s possible he’s been up to his old tricks, waiting until he formed a big enough following and has money to spare.” Brian said.

“He wants to be back on top, and we’re catching on. It’d make sense for him to take us out.” Cartoonz muttered. 

They didn’t want to. They didn’t want to fight La Chrome. The thought terrified them. Sure, they were the top of Los Santos, but this is someone they grew up fearing. This was a man who had supposedly been dead for many years. If he had survived beheading, he could survive anything.

“We don’t have a choice anymore.” Vanoss said. “We’re doing this. If you don’t want to put your life on the line, I understand. We can make arrangements for you and any loved ones to get out of the city for a few months. It’s nothing to be ashamed about. We’re all brothers above being a gang, and we will continue being so. I’d never force you to do something if you think it’ll be life or death. For those who decide to stay, we’re doing this.”

The door to the meeting room opened, and a man walked in. He grinned at the group. “Like fuck you’re all about to walk out. We’re doing it.”


	9. Chapter Nine

So that was Anthony.

There was a sudden relief of tense air, and some of the guys were hugging him and welcoming him back. Delirious was sure that they were happy that he was there, but he also had a feeling that they were all trying to push away the thoughts of impending doom. From what he’d heard, Anthony was quite valuable when it came to their tech system, which was why they had been hit so hard when they were hacked. He was relieved that he would be on site in case La Chrome’s guys decided to hit them again.

That brought him back to the issue at hand. La Chrome was a gang boss he’d avidly been trying to avoid for a while. When news spread that he had been eliminated, he had felt such extreme ease. The thought of possibly coming face to face with him sent chills down the length of Delirious’ spine. 

It was a complicated affiliation. Only Cartoonz knew a bit of what had happened, but, besides that, Delirious had managed to keep it locked down. A few of whom had been La Chrome’s men had approached him right as Delirious was starting to make a name for himself. According to them, Simon La Chrome himself was yearning for Delirious to join his reviving gang, despite the fact that he had supposedly died. He was ‘prepared to pay any amount’ for him to consider. That included also employing Cartoonz. Delirious was less worried about La Chrome, and figured these were some of the only survivors that were trying to increase their allies to protect themselves with the sudden loss of their boss. Still, it was then that Delirious had decided to distance himself from his friend. If a gang could offer to help both of them to win over Delirious’ favors, then they could threaten them as well. He couldn’t let that happen, so he forced Cartoonz to move on. 

Delirious had figured that they had been using La Chrome’s name to try and pull him in, and had dismissed it for nearly six years. And yet, here he was. Sure enough, Simon La Chrome was surely alive and coming after the gang Delirious had ended up joining. It was so interesting how life worked out.

The meeting resumed, consisting mostly of informing Anthony of everything he needed to know, but Delirious couldn’t find it in himself to focus on what everyone was saying. That and he was busy watching Ohm and Cartoonz quietly arguing over something. No one else seemed to have noticed. They had their heads close together, and Cartoonz had taken hold of one of Ohm’s wrists. It wasn’t violent at all, rather it was as if Cartoonz was afraid Ohm was going to disappear at any moment. Cartoonz was doing that thing with his eyebrows that Delirious had categorized as his frantic-but-trying-not-to-show-it expression. Meanwhile, Ohm looked like he would rather be anywhere but in the meeting room.

“Well shit.” Anthony suddenly exclaimed, leaning back in his chair. It snapped Cartoonz and Ohm back to attention, so Delirious figured he should listen too. “Alright, so what are we going to do?”

“No idea. But we at least know who we’re fighting.” Vanoss said.

“You mean the people who are gonna slaughter us? Yeah, at least we know who to call out in our suicide notes, which I’m sure we’re going to make because this is idiotic!” Scotty snapped. “We’ve pushed the limits in the past, but this is ridiculous. There’s no way we’ll take down La Chrome.”

“We have just as many people as those gangs did if we count all of Nanners’ guys and some of our allies.” Vanoss said. “We have time.”

“Nanners isn’t going to make his guys go after La Chrome. He knows that they have families and people who would miss them. There’s no way he’d let so many families lose their primary breadwinners. He cares too much about that. It’s why he’s in this business in the first place.” Marcel said. “Besides, what allies are going to risk their members against someone who’s supposed to be dead?”

“Minx will. She’ll help us no matter what pickle we find ourselves in.” Ohm said. There was a grumble of agreement. “Mark will too. A few of his members were killed by La Chrome back in the day. He wasn’t their boss yet, but now he is. Besides, we helped them take out that gang threatening their turf.”

“And Pewds will too. If he sees all of them coming together, he’ll know that there’s a party about to happen. His guys will be foaming at the mouth.” Brian said.

“I don’t know, Ken is getting older. He hasn’t been letting Pewds take as many chances.” Brock said. 

“Though, if they see Ohm, Minx, and Mark working together, they’ll help even if just to unite that group again. And where Pewds and Ken go, Cry follows.” Nogla said. “Honestly, where would we be if Ohm hadn’t been in a gang with those guys and decided to join us instead?”

The group cheered at that, all eyes turning to a now blushing Ohm. He tried to deny it, but no one was having it, not even Delirious. Besides, once again, they needed something to cheer them up. 

“So, I say we contact Nanners, Minx, Mark, and Pewds and see which of them are willing to participate. Then we go from there.” Vanoss said. The group seemed to nod in a unison, then stood and made their way out of the room. Ohm was already on the phone with someone, and Vanoss had called Nanners. Delirious figured he could call in a favor too if need be. Anything for this group.

Delirious found himself sitting on one of the couches by himself when Vanoss finally came out of the meeting room. Most of the group had dispersed into the house, leaving him to his own devices. 

“What did Nanners say?” Delirious asked.

Vanoss heaved a heavy sigh, collapsing onto the couch across from Delirious. “He said that, of course, he’d participate, and so would most of his higher ups, but he’d have to see how many others would join with the knowledge that they may not come out of it alive.”

“Every day in this cursed city is filled with chances to die. An attack on a base isn’t any different.” Delirious muttered. Vanoss chuckled at that, leaning forward to make comfortable eye contact with him.

“You know, there’s this killer burrito joint down the road.” Vanoss said. “I don’t know about you, but I think a burrito at eleven thirty in the morning sounds great.”

“A balanced breakfast, if I do say so myself.” Delirious said. 

They both stood and made their way to the garage, joking and laughing with each other. Delirious knew that this was Vanoss’ way of taking both of their minds off of the danger ahead, but he couldn’t help but notice the easy way the two of them were interacting, as if neither of them had a care in the world. 

“I’ll drive.” Vanoss said. Delirious wouldn’t have protested even if he wanted to. He sure didn’t have a car.

Vanoss led him to the red sports car that Delirious had admired upon his arrival to the base. He wouldn’t have guessed that it was Vanoss’, especially since he had met so many more eccentric people in the BBS that would’ve been his likely guesses as to who the car belonged to. But when Vanoss settled against the black leather of the driver’s seat inside, started the engine, and pulled out of the garage, Delirious couldn’t deny that he fit the car so perfectly. That, and the black sunglasses he pulled on were adding to the whole perfect picture.

They drove for less than five minutes, ending up at a small one story building that looked on the verge of collapse. Despite that, Vanoss held the heavy door open and ushered him in.  
It was at least twenty degrees hotter inside, and it was like Delirious had walked right into a wall of smells. The interior was painted a mustard yellow, with red and green tables taking up a majority of the room. A second doorway was straight across the room. It had a brown curtain instead of a door. Multicolored paper flags were strung from corner to corner. They shuddered as the outdated floor fan twisted from side to side, but the fan itself didn’t contribute much more than that.

Three older men, with graying beards and dirty clothes, were seated at one of the tables. They looked up as Delirious and Vanoss walked in. They most not have looked that interesting, for they returned to chatting quietly and eating their meals.

Vanoss took a seat at the table closest to the door, gesturing for Delirious to take the seat across from him. It wasn’t a particularly comfortable chair. That said, he settled into it nicely.

“I recommend one burrito with the works.” Vanoss said. 

“You do, do you?” Delirious asked, snickering. “Well, I guess I’ll have to try it.”

A woman in a long embroidered skirt pushed past the curtain. She set two cup of water on their table.

Vanoss held up two fingers. “Burrito.”

She nodded and laughed, brushing her hand on her skirt before patting his cheek gently. By the time she had returned to the back room, Vanoss had faked wiping off his cheek. Delirious laughed at that.

“Was it that bad?” Delirious asked.

“I mean, I don’t want you assuming anything.” Vanoss mused, resting his other cheek in one hand. 

“Really? Assume what?” Delirious asked. Vanoss laughed and shook his head.

“That I’d chat up someone while out with a friend. It’s not something I do.” he said. Delirious couldn’t help but smile at that. 

They were quiet, comfortable in each other’s presence. Delirious chose to scroll through his apps while Vanoss stared at the wall. He stirred his water with the straw. The ice tapped against the plastic cups with a dull noise that reminded Delirious of the small diner in his hometown that he and Cartoonz worked at when they were preteens. It had been a long time since he’d been there, and even longer since he’d really thought about that rundown joint, but something about the restaurant he found himself seated in gave him the same sense of happiness from when he was younger. The money he and Cartoonz earned at that diner had been the tickets they needed to get out of their town. Within a year and a half they saved enough money to pack up all their stuff and move the four hours west to Los Santos.

It was the most freeing day of their life, when they finally made it to Los Santos. They were finally away from those trashy people that were legally called their parents. All the gang business started soon after. There wasn’t many options for two kids like them. Maybe they should have thought though their choices before rushing into it, but they couldn’t stand living in that alcoholic household anymore than they had to. Besides, Los Santos was their city. It’s where they belonged, Delirious knew that. It’s where he wanted to live and where he wanted to die, though hopefully the latter would be far in the future.

“Lost in thought?” Vanoss asked. Delirious looked at him, confused at first, before realizing that two plates had miraculously appeared in front of them and half of Vanoss’ water was gone. “She set these down about three minutes ago. I wanted to see how long it’d take you to notice, but I’m hungry.”

“Sorry.” Delirious said, laughing awkwardly. Vanoss waved him off, digging into his burrito. 

“There’s no reason to be sorry. Mind if I ask what you were thinking about?” 

Delirious hummed, shaking his head. “Just the past. This place reminds me of when Cartoonz and I used to work at this little shithole diner in our hometown.”

“He’s talked about that a few times. He always says it’s the reason why you two ended up here and not in a hole in the ground.” Vanoss said.

“Yeah. We got enough money to move here by working. It had us out of the house during most of the hours outside of school too, so our parents were always passed out or just waking up with hangovers when we’d get home. I can imagine that, if we were there all day every day, they would’ve killed at least one of us in a drunk rage at some point.”

“Alcoholics?” he asked. Delirious nodded, though he didn’t seem too distressed by it. 

“Some of the worst you’ve ever met. We had one drug store in our town. It was in the back of the grocery store. Only meant to supply a few hundred people. The store had to buy over double the stock expected for anything whiskey or beer because of my parents alone.” 

“And they hit you two?” 

It was silent for a beat. Delirious stared down into his burrito, trying to figure out exactly how much he wanted to share with the man in front of him. He didn’t exactly have a tortured childhood. He didn’t want anyone thinking that. He went to school and he somehow always had a roof over his head and food in the kitchen and a healthy brother. 

“Yeah. All the time. It was their way of greeting. A smack to the face or a kick was their way of welcoming us home. When they were especially shit faced or aggravated they would try and push us all around. It worked when we were little, and I spent a lot of time putting bandaids on myself and Cartoonz at two in the morning. As we got older, we spent as much time away as possible. Sleeping in fields, working, staying with friends all evening, you name it, we probably did it just to be away.” Delirious said. “It’s alright now. We’re out, and we’re here. For Cartoonz, at least, the BBS is what we have.”

“Then we can’t lose it to La Chrome.” Vanoss said. He reached into his pocket and pulled a ten dollar bill from his wallet. He left it on the table, standing. Delirious followed after him, a slight smile on his face.

When the woman in the embroidered skirt came out of the back room, all that was left of the two men was two empty plates and a ten.


	10. Chapter Ten

“Listen Ohm, you know that ten years ago I would have bit right away at the chance to take down La Chrome and his gang. It’s just so complicated now. I mean, I thought he was dead until about twenty minutes ago, and I finally have a gang again that is like a family for me, and for each other. I don’t know if I could make them go into a battle they might not come out of.”

“I get it, but just think it over. The BBS is stronger now, and we are trying to get secure some of our other allies as we speak. If you confirm, or even agree to come to a strategic meeting, there’s a large possibility that Mark and Pewds bring in their gangs as well. Please, think about it.”

“You know I will.”

There was a long silence.

“Ohm?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re taking care of yourself, right?”

“I’m trying my best.”

“That’s good. Just remember not to sacrifice yourself for them too much. You’ve done it enough.”

“Minx, I-”

“I know, I know. I just worry about you sometimes. It’s been too long since you’ve called, and I know you well enough to know that you’ve been pulling the same crap you used to in the old days. I know you love all of those boys, but don’t forget to love yourself.”

Another silence.

“Okay.”

She sighed.

“I’ll talk it over with some of my people and get back to you soon. Tell everyone that I say ‘hugs and kisses’.”

He laughed at that, which brought a smile to her face.

“Will do. Thanks again.”

“Anytime. Miss you.”

“Miss you too.”

He hung up the phone, dropping it onto the bed next to him. His body seemed to collapse under him, and he curled into a ball on top of his sheets. He didn’t want to admit that he was mentally and physically exhausted. He didn’t want to move anymore, couldn’t make himself leave his room and try to find Vanoss. He couldn’t sleep without the nightmares and couldn’t be awake without the memories.

“Guess who.” came a small voice from in front of him.

Ohm opened his eyes a tiny bit, though they naturally widened when he saw what was there.

“Buddy!” he exclaimed, taking the little dog from Cartoonz. He pulled him to his chest, holding him close and hugging him tight. Buddy licked at his chin, making him laugh. “How’d you get here little man?”

“Anthony brought him back from Melina’s house. They figured that he might as well do it in one trip instead of some of us going to get him.” Cartoonz said. He sat on the edge of the bed next to Ohm’s legs. “Melina was wondering if you would want him back here with a new job coming up, especially since that’s why you sent him to her house in the first place, but Anthony thought so.”

“I missed you so much.” Ohm whispered, kissing Buddy’s forehead. Cartoonz’ heart practically melted at the sight, and he just barely resisted the urge to reach forward and take the drained man in front of him into his arms.

“Maybe we should take the day off.” Cartoonz mused. “You know, hang out, watch some movies, take Buddy to that park in the better part of the city.”

“I have to tell Vanoss what Minx is thinking.” Ohm said, releasing Buddy. The little dog made his way over to the other pillow, circling and laying down on it like he’d never left. “I’m sure there’s other stuff I should be doing too.”

“Yeah there’s stuff you could be doing, but you should be taking a day to recover. You’re exhausted, Ohm.”

“It doesn’t matter that I’m exhausted. If we’re going to get the allies we need to take down La Chrome, I need to be contacting people and relaying their responses to Vanoss.”

“Ohm.” Cartoonz felt desperate. He was watching his friend drill himself into the ground. Everyone in the BBS knew that Ohm was crucial to their success. He had so many connections in Los Santos, the surrounding areas, and, surprisingly, places around the world. Still, it hurt them to see him work to the point that it was unhealthy.

But Cartoonz didn’t know what to do. He was tired of watching Ohm do everything that was asked of him without getting anything in return. He couldn’t stand seeing Ohm used like this, even if he knew that there was no malicious intent behind it.

He reached out, taking Ohm’s hand in his own. With his free hand, he guided Ohm to him, holding the smaller man close to his chest, much like Ohm had just done for Buddy. Slowly and swiftly, he moved them both so that they were laying down, and Cartoonz was somewhat cradling Ohm in his arms.  
He could feel Ohm open his mouth to say something, but he hushed him.

“Sleep now. We’ll work later, I promise. But, just for an hour, sleep. For me.”

And, much to his surprise, Ohm did.

.

.

.

“You got burritos and didn’t bring me one?” Smitty whined, leaning over the back of the couch to watch Delirious.

Delirious rolled his eyes, but tried to focus back at the project he was helping Anthony with. The man was loud and just as vulgar as Smitty, dropping a curse word every sentence or two. He was quick to get to work but also getting back into the rhythm after some time away. He needed someone to help rewire some of the monitors, and it just so happened that Delirious had some experience with that and nothing else to do.

He worked slowly with the tweezers, deciding to be precise rather than fast. It was practically driving Smitty, who was taking a break after helping Lui make sticky bombs for hours, up the wall.  
He wanted to play video games, or talk, or something, but stupid Delirious was being stupid and working on the stupid monitors.

“So, was it a date then?” Smitty asked. He let his head drop to the cushion.

“Was what a date?” Delirious grinned as he crossed some of the wires, pleased with his own work. He’d never been very academic, but computers were more his speed.

“Your burrito brunch with Evan.”

Delirious’ head snapped up and he almost dropped his tweezers. He fumbled with them in his hands for a second before trying to compose himself.

“No, it was not. There’s no way in hell that it was a date.” Delirious said, trying to focus back on the monitor.

“Are you sure? The two of you did go alone to get food.”

“People do that all the time but don’t date. You and Brian literally went and got chinese food together a few days ago.”

“Yeah, but Brian’s married.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Delirious huffed. He shook his head, trying to calm himself down. “It wasn’t a date.”

“It was just a joke dude.” Smitty said. “Though, I could see that.”

“I couldn’t. There’s no way.”

“Why? Evan is a good looking guy, and he’s successful, and nice.”

“Smitty, shut up.”

Smitty sighed, and Delirious could feel his pout from across the room.

“I’m just saying.”

“Shuch up.”

.

.

.

“Here.” Marcel said, handing Scotty a coffee cup. Scotty grunted his thanks, practically chugging half of the scalding watered down coffee in one sip.

“Careful.” Bryce warned, but he laughed at Scotty anyways, accepting his own cup from Marcel. The three of them sat against the outer wall of Nanners’ building down at the docks, staring out at the bay. Vanoss was inside talking to Nanners about La Chrome, something that they still couldn’t wrap their heads around.

“Are we sure that it’s really La Chrome?” Bryce asked. “Maybe it’s someone pretending to be him, or a false lead.”

“That’s what I want to believe, but if Ohm’s saying his sources told him it’s La Chrome and the warehouse was full of recent files screaming La Chrome’s name, I can’t help but accept it. That doesn’t mean I understand it all. They for sure found his head.” Scotty said.

“I’m going to be angrier if it’s not La Chrome and just some asshole pretending to be him and fucking with gangs.” Marcel said. He took a sip from his coffee, making a face at the taste. Still, he went in for another swallow.

“You think the other gangs with ally with us?” Bryce asked. The other two shrugged.

“Ohm probably called Minx a little while ago, Vanoss is talking to Nanners, and we still have to contact Mark and Pewds. Whether or not anyone allies with us will depend on what those four say.” Marcel said.

“You think we’ll need more than those four?” Bryce asked.

“Probably.” Marcel and Scotty said in unison. They then proceeded to take sips of their coffee at the same time. Bryce grinned at them.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Bryce muttered.

.

.

.

Craig turned off the shower, getting out and drying himself. He pulled on his sweatpants and grabbed his things, heading into the common area of the bathroom. Tyler was standing at one of the sinks, brushing his teeth. He didn’t stop when he saw Craig, but he acknowledged him with a nod of the head.

Craig took his own sink, brushing his teeth and washing his face. Tyler waited for him, leaning against the wall and staring off into the distance. For once, Craig didn’t feel like talking. He didn’t even want to crack a joke. He was tired and afraid and angry that they hadn’t seen it before. Simon La Chrome had been working right under their noses the entire time, and they had no idea of it. They didn’t control the docks at all. All they had done was meaningless.

“Craig, you’re stuck in your head.” Tyler said. Craig snapped to attention, dropping his towel. Tyler snatched it up before Craig could, throwing it to the laundry basket across the room with perfect precision. “Come on. Let’s go lay down.”

Craig took Tyler’s offered hand, relishing in the contact. They headed up to Tyler’s room, passing by the cracked door to Ohm’s room. They could just see the sight of Cartoonz and Ohm laying there together, along with Buddy who they hadn’t seen in a solid month or two. Craig couldn’t help but smile at them, pulling the door shut with a quiet click.

Tyler pulled the covers over the two of them, then snuggled up next to Craig. He held him in his arms and tried not to think of life. All he wanted to think about was the man next to him and how better life would be once it was all over. If they could get past La Chrome and survive, the world would be a much better place for them and everyone else. The BBS would really run the docks then, there would be no disputes. They just had to kill him again.

“You’re stuck in your head.” Craig muttered. He was already drooling against Tyler’s chest, and his voice was groggy.

“I know.” Tyler said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Craig slurred, burying his face further into Tyler.

Tyler pressed a light kiss to the top of Craig’s head, closing his eyes and practically curling around the other man. They seemed to melt into one being. They slept, warmed by the other, and tried to keep the haunting nightmares of their realities away.

.

.

.

“What’re ya doin’?” Nogla asked. He took the seat next to Brian and watched as he typed away on his laptop. They were in the game room, giving Anthony his space up in the office.

“Trying to contact some of our other allies. Ones with smaller gangs, or the ones without official gangs, or the such.” Brian answered.

“Like who?”

“Gorilla, Kryoz, Satt, Chilled and his boys, you know. People who have worked with us in the past who we know we can trust.”

Nogla hummed, reaching over to pick up his coffee mug. He took a sip.

“I think I heard that Gorilla and Satt are a part of their own gang now.” Brock said. He came up from the stairs and sat down in the other chair, his own cup of fresh coffee in his hands. “Ohm would know more about that than I would though. He used to do quite a bit with them and they still talk.”

“We can ask him when he gets up. He’s napping.” Brian said.

“He deserves it. Poor guy.” Nogla said. They nodded at that, easing into the quiet of the building. Many of their members were out, sleeping, or doing something that requires most of their energy. It left little to no room for the usual banter and laughter that normally filled the large building.

“I’m ready for the day to come where we can go at this son of a bitch.” Brian said.

“Agreed.”

“Amen.”


	11. Chapter Eleven

“I am so thankful for beer.” Tyler said.

“Cheers to that.” Anthony exclaimed, raising his bottle in the air and belting out the laugh they’d all been missing. He leaned back on the couch, continuing his conversation with Brock.

They were all there, the entirety of the gang, sitting in the living room and just enjoying life for a few hours. They had been working hard for the whole day and decided sometime around five that they should all get together and exist. Someone bought a few cases of beer and they’d cracked them open. Delirious was on his third, going slower than most of the others, and he was watching Brian and Marcel play a shooting game of the flatscreen. They were good, but he could tell that they were buzzed. 

“Bitch!” Marcel screeched as he lost once again. Brian laughed at his friend and started up the next match.

Cartoonz and Ohm were seated on the floor next to one of the couches, playing with Buddy. He was a sweet dog.

Delirious couldn’t help but notice how much happier Ohm was with Buddy around, and how much happier Cartoonz was when Ohm was happy. Being a part of a gang wasn’t easy. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Ohm seemed to be the one who made sacrifices most often, and even Delirious could tell it was taking a toll on him. 

“You comfortable sitting way back here away from all the action?” Evan asked, coming around the island to stand next to him. Delirious was, in fact, seated at the island while the rest of the group was by the couches. He hadn’t realized that Nogla, who had been at one of the other stools, had moved to sit by Lui, leaving him alone.

“I guess so. It’s nice to see everyone relaxing.” Delirious responded.

Evan hummed. It was a pleasant noise, Delirious realized.

“Want another?” Evan asked, gesturing to Delirious’ dwindling beer. 

“Sure.” 

Evan reached into the fridge and pulled out a new bottle. He popped off the cap and handed it to Delirious, who thanked him. He expected Evan to go back over to the others, but the gang boss took the stool right next to him. 

They sat there in a comfortable silence while the others continued their fun. It felt so nice to finally be a part of something. Delirious felt like he was choking, his heart was swelling so much.

“Cracking open a cold one with the boys, eh?” they heard Smitty say across the room. It prompted yet another friendly fight between him and Mini. Those two were the ‘Meme Boiz’ according to Smitty. 

Delirious took a swig of his beer. It burned a little as it went down and he was reminded of that morning when he’d woken with a hangover. It felt like weeks ago. The day had dragged on forever, the week felt never ending. He knew that everyone in the room was ready for the whole ordeal with La Chrome to be over. They were ready to be on the other side. But Delirious was terrified that there could be more losses with La Chrome than wins.

“Worrying?” Evan asked. Delirious shrugged. “It might not seem like it, but everyone here is a beast with a gun. We’ll be fine, Jon. Don’t stress over it more than you have to.”

“You mean you’re not worried?” Delirious asked, twisting in his chair to look Evan in the eyes. The gang boss didn’t back down, staring straight into his own eyes without fear. 

“Yeah. I’m so worried it keeps me up at night, working as hard as I can to insure that we have a better chance of making it through with every single one of my members still breathing. This is my family, I can’t imagine living without them.” Evan said. “Every night I have nightmares where someone in this room dies, and I did nothing to save them. But if that stays in my dreams, and I work as hard as I can everyday, then I’ll be fine.”

Delirious didn’t know what to say. Evan was so genuine, so easy to talk to. He was the only gang boss that Delirious had ever met that didn’t hold his superiority over all of their members. He didn’t want this gang to be destroyed. He didn’t want to see all of these wonderful, hardworking men killed. They wanted Los Santos to be a safe, beautiful place. He could feel it when he saw them all working. 

“Hey, it’s alright. We’re going to be fine.” Evan said. He took Delirious’ hand and squeezed it. “I’m telling you, Jon, you’re going to be shocked when you see how well we are as a team. There’s a reason why we’ve made it this far. I know you’ve seen us at some of our weaker points, but the BBS is tough.”

Delirious nodded, but he didn’t feel much better. He didn’t know why he felt so emotional. He’d never cared this much about a gang before. Maybe it was because Cartoonz was there. Maybe it was because they’d been so quick to bring him in as a member of their family. Maybe it was because he could see how much some of them cared for each other, like Brock and Brian and Cartoonz and Ohm.

The flat screen beeped with yet another loss for Marcel. On instinct, Delirious’ hand flinched, and he tried to draw it back to his body. But Evan didn’t let it go. In fact, he brought it closer to him and kissed the back of his hand. Delirious could feel his face heat right away. He felt too exposed in the room, like everyone was looking at them. 

No one was. No one was looking. They were all caught up in their own world on the other side of the living room. It was just Evan and Delirious. They stared into each other’s eyes and just felt themselves connect. They both needed something, but they didn’t know what. Delirious didn’t know what.

“Can I hug you?” Evan asked. He whispered it so quietly that Delirious almost didn’t hear it. 

“Yeah.” Delirious said. His face must have been beyond red.

Evan leaned it, pulling Delirious close to him. At first he was frozen, but he found the strength to hug the man back. He almost started crying, he felt such extreme relief. It could have been less than ten seconds, but it felt like a lifetime.

“Wow, Del’s face is blood orange.” Smitty said. 

Evan and Delirious jerked apart. Smitty was standing at the fridge, pulling out a can of soda. From across the room, Craig yelled something about “Shut up, it’s fucking red.” but Delirious couldn’t process it. Smitty winked as he walked back to the couches, settling next to Craig and Tyler. 

“I, uh, I have some things to do.” Delirious found himself saying, but he couldn’t exactly control what was happening. He was standing and walking away, but it was as if he was watching himself go.

Evan called after him, but he was already running up the stairs. He didn’t know what he was running from. He felt so lost and confused. Everything was messed up again. 

Somehow he’d ended up in his room, looking out the windows at the city. It was raining again, or maybe it had been raining all day. He couldn’t remember. He’s mind felt fuzzy, like his head was full of cotton balls. There was no reason to be so distressed. Nothing bad had happened. A hug was no problem. Smitty hugged him all the time, and even Cartoonz and Ohm had hugged him once or twice since he’d joined. Why did he feel so afraid then?

“Del.” came Ohm’s muffled voice through the door. “I’m coming in.”

The door opened and shut, and then Ohm was standing right next to him. They were both staring out of the windows. No words were spoken. There was nothing to say. They stood there while their other friends were all down in the living room. Maybe they all knew that Delirious had run away. Maybe they were all making fun of him.

Ohm slumped so that he was leaning against Delirious. It made him panic, first that Ohm was hurt and then the idea that he was being relied on to hold him up. There’d be no one to blame but himself if he let Ohm fall. 

“You’re way different from what people say about you.” Ohm said. Delirious could feel him support his own weight, and then he was facing him. “You care about us now, after such a short amount of time. I don’t think you can fully comprehend it. After all this talk about being a lone wolf, all you really wanted was a pack. It’s alright, Del. We want you too. You don’t need to run from us.”

Delirious nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak.

Ohm pulled him in for a hug. It was much different from the one with Evan. It was calmer, and there was no sense of lift or time stopping. Inside of him felt warm, and maybe he was crying but he didn’t really know. He felt so thankful for the human connection. It had been a long time since he’d felt so protected.

They let each other go. Ohm patted his cheek, a sad smile on his face, before leaving the room. Delirious couldn’t blame him. He could feel Ohm’s own anxiety radiating off of him in waves that enveloped the room. Still, Delirious felt calmer and more alert thanks to him. Deep down, he felt ashamed for literally running from Evan after their hug, like how ridiculous could one be? He was trying to supress that thought for as long as he could, and maybe avoid the gang boss for a day or two.

It seemed that, once again, life had other plans for him.

He’d been sitting on his bed, flipping through a cookbook he’d bought many years before but had never used, when his door was thrown open. He sat straight up, eyes connecting with a Cartoonz who was most definitely panicking.

“What?” Delirious asked. 

“They’re attacking Nanners’ base. They need us.” he said. 

Delirious launched into action, grabbing his mask as he ran out the door after Cartoonz. The entire gang was in the armory, yelling orders to each other and loading up. Delirious was quick to put on his bulletproof vest and obtain his earpiece from Craig. Wildcat shoved a pistol and an assault rifle into his arms, along with multiple clips. He wrapped the pistol holster around waist but held the rifle. 

“Delirious.” Marcel said, and Delirious had barely enough time to react before his blue hoodie was thrown at him. “Thought you might want that.”

“Thanks.” he muttered, pulling it on over the vest. It would’ve been weird going into battle without it.

“Listen up.” Evan yelled at the front of the room. Most of the activity stopped and they all looked to him. “Nogla and Mega Monkey, man the chopper. Shoot anyone who tries to run away. Squadron One is Wildcat, McQuaid, and Basically. Take the west entrance. Squadron Two is Mini, Cartoonz, and Moo. Take the east. Squadron Three is Ohm, Smitty, and FourZero. Take the South. Squadron Four is myself, Delirious, and Terroriser. We’ll handle the north. Jiggly will hold down the cameras and tech approximately 1 kilometer from the site. He’ll be with Droidd. 

“Watch yourselves. This is La Chrome’s men we’re up against. I don’t want anyone dying here, alright?”

There was a rumble of agreements in the group.

“Then let’s go. Masks on.”

Brock and Brain shared a kiss as they piled into their trucks. Delirious saw Wildcat and Craig hug, but he was interrupted by Cartoonz giving him a smack on the back.

“Be safe out there.” Cartoonz said.

“I could say the same to you.” Delirious responded, eyeing the belt of grenades thrown over his shoulder. Cartoonz shrugged, giving Delirious one more little shove before disappearing into his truck. 

Smitty was just pulling on his multicolored glasses and a propellor hat when he saw Delirious. He gave him a wave and a grin. Delirious mirrored him, his wave morphing into a thumbs up. 

“Here we go.” Brian groaned, hopping into the truck and settling in the seat next to Delirious. He slid a pair of dark sunglasses onto his face, over something that seemed like half of a mask. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” Delirious said. He finally put the hockey mask back on, after what felt like years. Something inside of him quieted, maybe his nerves, while another part stirred. He was ready to kick some ass.

Evan, donning an owl mask, pulled himself into the driver’s seat. He started the engine at the same time as the other four trucks, and Delirious could already hear the chopper flying above them outside.

“It’s a longer drive than to the docks.” Evan, who was now Vanoss, said.

“But you’re going to speed us there, right?” Terroriser asked. 

Delirious couldn’t see the smirk, but he somehow knew it was there.

“Hell yeah.”


	12. Chapter Twelve

The entire building was bursting with the sounds of firing guns and explosions, some of which they could faintly see lighting up the darkness. They could hear it from blocks away. Most of the houses and businesses had evacuated, especially since many of them were familiar with Nanners and his calm nature. They assumed that this was a dangerous place to be, and they were right.

They abandoned the truck in an alley near the north entrance, which was a large metal garage door meant for loading things on and off of trucks. From their vantage point, it looked like it’d already been blown open.

“We need helicopter coverage at the north.” Vanoss said, holding down the button on his earpiece.

_“Roger that.”_ Mega Monkey said.

“Delirious, Terroriser, keep alert.” Vanoss said. They nodded. He pressed the earpiece. “Squad Four, heading in.”

Silently, they slunk along the side of the building and to the gap where the garage door had been. Vanoss flicked a hand symbol at Terroriser. He pulled the pin from a grenade and chucked it into the hole.

“Grenade!” someone inside shrieked. Delirious plugged his ears but the noise of the explosion still rattled in his head.

Vanoss and Delirious sprinted in while Terroriser watched their backs. Delirious shot down three guys who were all recovering from the shock of the grenade. He could hear Vanoss bring down a few others, and Terroriser shot two from his vantage point at the door.

They found themselves in a large storage room. Like the warehouse, huge crates were stacked against the walls and towering towards the ceilings. A few had fallen due to the blast, blocking their straight shot path to the other door.

“Terroriser.” Vanoss said, gesturing to one of the other three paths. He made eye contact with Delirious, pointing to the one on the right. They nodded in understanding, each heading their specific way.

Delirious adjusted his grip on the rifle, keeping eyes open for any enemies. It was too quiet in the giant room, especially with the noisy conditions of the rest of the building. It was eerie walking between two giant walls of wooden crates, with nowhere to hide, no one watching his back, and complete silence all around him.

_“Squad Two is in.”_ came Mini’s static voice straight in his ear. Delirious very nearly shot his gun, but managed to control his trigger finger.

Suddenly, he could hear someone else firing in the room. He wasn’t sure if it was one of his guys or someone else, but neither one could be good. He sprinted to the end of his row, twisting to look down Vanoss’ path. The gang boss had somehow managed to take cover, but there were four men advancing on him. Delirious was quick to take them down, and, by the time the final body had dropped to the concrete floor, Terroriser had come to back him up.

“Thanks for the assist.” Vanoss joked, hurrying down the row to join them.

They moved out of the room carefully, watching all angles for possible opponents. To their right was an empty conference room with bullet holes littering the swinging door, walls, and rolling chairs. There were no signs of blood, so they chose to believe that no one had been in there when it’d been shot up.

They followed a long hallway, going slowly and checking each room to make sure no one was inside, whether their comrades or enemies.

_“Squad One is finally fucking in.”_ Wildcat said.

_“Squad Three is in too.”_ Ohm followed. Delirious could hear Smitty yelling in the background, something about “‘Nade out. Yeet!”

A bullet whizzed right past Delirious’ head. The three of them were quick to react, all ducking into different rooms for cover. Delirious tried to shoot at the group of assailants at the end of the hall, but he couldn’t get a good angle that didn’t put his head on a target for them to shoot right through. It seemed that Terroriser and Vanoss were struggling with that too. Still, they didn’t panic, taking each shot carefully and with planned movements. Each of them had been in the business a long time and, while their opponents were trained, they didn’t seem to have the same finesse.

_“Squad Three is taking heavy fire.”_ Ohm said. He sounded nervous, which was an emotion Delirious had yet to see from the man.

_“We’ll try to come back you up. How close are you to the South door?”_ Basically asked.

_“They’ve got us pinned in one of the resting rooms. There’s gotta be twenty or thirty.”_ FourZero said.  _"Shit, where'd they all come from?"  
_

_“We’ve got a sight on the stairs into the basement. Nanners has it barricaded but they’re close to breaking it down. Do we proceed or do we wrap around to help Squad Three?”_ Moo asked.

Cartoonz was probably antsy to get Ohm out of there. And, Terroriser probably didn’t want Moo going to the place with the most enemies. But they were both keeping their mouths shut, so Delirious figured he would too.

“Advance on the basement. Our objective is to rescue Nanners’ guys. Squad One, try to relieve Squad Three of some of the fire. We’re on our way to the cross roads between those two locations.” Vanoss said.

_“On it.”_ Moo said.

_“We’re on our way.”_ Basically reassured.

“This is getting ridiculous.” Terroriser snapped. He pulled out another grenade. “Grenade out!”

The men screamed, and there was the sound of frantic feet trying to escape down the hallway before the grenade went off. From their sudden silence afterwards, they hadn’t made it.

“Let’s go.” Vanoss said.

They stepped over the dead bodies, turning down yet another hallway. The sounds of gunfire were louder, coming from further into the building.

“Jiggly, which way to the stairs?” Vanoss asked.

_“Give me a sec.”_ Jiggly said. They continued forward while they waited. _“At the end of this hallway, turn left. They should be straight down that hallway.”_

Vanoss nodded at them, and they picked up the pace.

The next hallway was just to their left, and they were about to turn down it when all hell broke loose.

_“Smitty is down.”_ Ohm practically screamed. _“We need to get him out now.”_

_“There’s so many of them. We have no chance of getting to him.”_ McQuaid said.

_“I’m out of bullets.”_ FourZero said.

_“We need more people down here. There’s maybe a hundred of them. We’re barely doing any damage.”_ Mini yelled.

_"How do they have this many fucking guys? There's gotta be almost two hundred of them in total."_ Jiggly asked. _"Squad Three, watch out. There's more coming from your rear."_

“Shit.” Vanoss snapped. He paused, and, for a split second, he looked so lost and terrified. It was like he was frozen.

“We need to get Nanners and his men out.” Terroriser said. “We’ll get overwhelmed if we try to get Smitty. They’ll come straight from the basement and to us.”

_“Smitty needs medical attention. He’s losing consciousness.”_ FourZero shouted over all the chaos on his end.

_“I can’t hold these guys off. They’re going to storm the room.”_ Ohm gasped.

_“What do we do?”_ Moo asked. _“Should we abandon the basement?”_

_“We need to if we’re going to get Squad One out.”_ Cartoonz snapped.

“Vanoss.” Delirious said. The gang boss looked up at him, extreme panic in his eyes. “I’ll go to Smitty and I’ll get them out. You and Terroriser go to the basement.”

“Alright.” Vanoss said. He seemed to snap out of his panic, whole face becoming more alert. He nodded again, more confident in his actions. He pressed the button of his earpiece. “Delirious is heading towards Squads One and Three. Terroriser and I are going to the basement.”

“Be careful.” Terroriser said, but Delirious could tell that he was more worried about Moo.

“You too.” he responded, heading straight down the hallway instead of to the left.

Now he was on his own, and he needed to save Smitty. He wouldn’t let him die, not this time. He was never going to let that happen again.

“Jiggly, lead me to the others.”

_“Will do. Go straight-”_

There was a massive explosion in the direction Vanoss and Terroriser were heading that completely cut off Jiggly. The rest of the gang panicked on the line, making a wall of sound going straight into his ear.

_“Everyone shut up!”_ Jiggly screamed. The conversations stopped. _“What the fuck was that?”_

_“C4. They detonated it on the barricade. Even their own guys are down.”_ Moo said. _“Shit, I can’t find Cartoonz or Mini. Their earpieces might have disconnected with the blast. There’s bodies and pieces of stuff everywhere.”_

_“The objective has changed. We’re all getting out of here. Squads One and Three and Delirious, get out and get back to the base asap. We’ll find Cartoonz and Mini and try to evacuate as many of Nanners’ men as possible.”_ Vanoss said.

There was a chorus of replies, but Delirious chose to focus his energy on getting Squads One and Three to the base.

Delirious heard the people running towards him before he saw them. He adjusted his rifle, blasting the opponents just as they turned the corner. A few of their buddies must have noticed their deaths as more started coming from the other hallway and firing at him. So much for the stealth he was hoping to have.

He twisted behind the door of what must have been a bedroom, reloading.

“I’m redirecting some of their fire.” he said, pressing the earpiece. “Continue trying to get Squad Three out.”

_“Doing our best.”_ Wildcat said.

_“Careful Delirious.”_ Smitty choked out.

_“Shut up and stay alive.”_ Delirious said. He turned to shoot past the door, taking down four or five guys in just as many shots. Hearing Smitty’s voice had reignited the fire in him that needed the kill, needed the vengeance for first Nasio and now his own gang members.

_“We’re down to maybe ten guys.”_ McQuaid said.

_“Their attention is divided between Delirious and us.”_ Basically followed up. The frantic shots continued.

_“That’s the final guy!”_ Wildcat yelled. _“Delirious, he’s coming your way.”_

Delirious was ready, killing him before the man even realized he was there. He rounded the corner just as Wildcat and Basically came out of what must have been the room Squad Three had been pinned in. They were supporting a limp Smitty, who had blood all over him. His glasses were pushing up his hair, some of which was drooping in a wet pale pink. Ohm, McQuaid, and FourZero followed them out. McQuaid was helping FourZero, who was looking a little green.

“We got them out. Heading to the trucks through the South entrance now.” Delirious said.

_“Good job. Helicopter, cover them as they come out. Droidd and Jiggly, hurry back to the base and prepare a surgery room for Smitty.”_ Vanoss said. Delirious could hear the sound of a gun going off, but Vanoss didn’t seem worried so it must have been either Moo or Terroriser. He hoped that they’d already found Cartoonz and Mini, but there was no way to know.

Delirious and Ohm watched for any enemies as they made their way out. The helicopter was flying high above them, also watching their backs. They got to Squad Three’s truck, loading Smitty and FourZero in the back with Basically holding Smitty’s wound and Wildcat in the driver’s seat. Delirious and Ohm watched them speed towards the base before heading to Squad One’s truck at the West entrance.

“Do you want us to come in and help?” Delirious asked.

_“No. Head back to the base and await further instructions.”_ Vanoss said.

Delirious pulled himself into the driver’s seat, starting the truck. He chucked his rifle in the back, but made sure that his pistol was still attached to his hip. As soon as Ohm was buckled in, they took off towards the base. The air in the truck was heavy and sullen. Delirious was lucky that he had a good memory of the city, because Ohm wasn’t in the mind to lead him to the base. Delirious honestly couldn’t blame him.

Delirious parked them in the space, grabbing his rifle and climbing out. They dropped their weapons in the armory, removing their bulletproof vests but keeping the earpieces just in case.  
Before they went up the stairs, Delirious pulled Ohm into a weak hug. He wasn’t expecting it to be returned, but Ohm squeezed him back. With the way everyone was acting, Delirious was sure of only one thing-

That had been a loss.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

It was obvious how defeated they all felt. Delirious sat in the living room with Ohm, Scotty, Wildcat, and Bryce. Marcel and Anthony were in one of the sanitized rooms in the basement, helping Droidd save Smitty. It’d been close to an hour, and there had been no word from any of the others still at Nanners’ base. In most cases ‘no news is good news’, Bryce had said to try and cheer them up, but Wildcat was quick to snap that ‘we can’t afford no news in this business’ and the younger man hadn’t spoken since.

None of them could find it in themselves to move. Delirious felt like he should be doing something, whether that be helping with Smitty or recovering survivors at Nanners’ base. There was a part of him that was coiled up in fear. He had no idea how Cartoonz was doing. He’d never left his brother behind like that. But he trusted that Vanoss, Terroriser, and Moo would do anything Delirious could, and they would probably do it better.

Still, it didn’t mean that he could stand the wait.

Wildcat’s phone beeped twice. It almost seemed to echo in the room long after he picked it up.

“They’re going to come back soon.” he said. “They’ve got about fifty or so guys with them who need shelter while they fix up the base, not counting Nanners and his main boys. Most of them need medical attention too.”

“Let’s prepare then.” Ohm said, standing. “Scotty, Bryce, and I will get the first aid ready in all of the lower rooms. Tyler, if you’ll help Delirious prepare some beds for our guests.”

Ohm, Scotty, and Bryce headed down the stairs to the basement while Wildcat led Delirious up to the game room.

“We need to push all of these tables on the far side of the room so they’re out of the way. There’s a closet downstairs where we keep cots, extra bedding, hammocks, all the works. We’ll set those up, and if there isn’t enough room, we’ll put a few more in the office. We shouldn’t aim for that so that we still have a place to get work done.” Wildcat said. 

At Delirious’ nod, he sighed and ushered Delirious over to the air hockey table. They moved that, then the pool table, both ping pong tables, and the foosball table. Once those were mostly out of the way, taking up much less room than before, they folded the chairs and stacked them against the same wall. The bean bags chairs were left on top of the pool table, and then they were staring at an empty room. It looked almost sad, but Wildcat continued on.

They collected all of the cots and bedding, taking it up to the gameroom in maybe five trips each. By the time they started setting the cots, Scotty and Bryce had come up with armloads of hammocks and pillows. They made quick work of the set up. Somehow they managed to fit all forty cots and twenty five hammocks in the game room with small walkways so no one would be climbing over each other.

“How many times have you had to do this?” Delirious asked, wiping off his forehead. While they’d finished the task in record time, it didn’t mean that it had been easy. All four of them were sweating buckets.

“Only once, for an allied gang.” Scotty said. “That was maybe two or three years ago.”

“It was less people too.” Bryce said.

“Good thing you have all of this stuff.” Delirious said as he dropped yet another pillow on a cot.

“It’s nice to be prepared for anything.” Bryce mused.

“Someone’ll need to go shopping tomorrow, considering we’re going to be feeding a literal army.” Wildcat muttered. Delirious almost didn’t catch him say it. The man cleared his throat. “Alright, let’s head down so we can help with first aid when they get here.”

“Know anything about first aid?” Bryce asked Delirious as they walked down the stairs.

“Some. I’ve had to fix myself up a few times.” he replied. Bryce nodded.

“You’ll be fine then.”

Not five minutes later, the near sixty people arrived at the base. Scotty and Bryce led those that were injured down to the basement while Wildcat took the few that weren’t to the game room. Delirious helped a bloody and limping Nanners into the building and up the stairs, settling him on one of the stools in the living room.

“Thanks.” Nanners said, coughing. He rubbed a hand over his ash streaked face. “How embarrassing.”

Delirious didn’t really want to leave him alone but he knew there were other people that still needed help getting in the building.

He ended up with a pale Cartoonz in his arms, supporting almost all of his body weight. Yet, Cartoonz waved him off when he tried to bring him to the basement.

“I’m a big boy, Del.” Cartoonz said. “I just need to go to the living room for a sec and I’ll be fine.”

“Some big boy, needing his little brother to carry him up the stairs.” Delirious muttered, prompting the other man to punch him lightly in the chest.

When Delirious went back into the garage, only Evan was there, wiping some blood from the leather seats.

“Need any help?” Delirious asked.

Evan shook his head. “I don’t even know why I’m doing this,” he said, laughing awkwardly. “We have people that’ll come and clean everything up when we’re done. I just feel really lost.”

His head dropped to the leather and he took in a deep breath.

“You should come inside and have a glass of water, clear your head. No use standing out here.” Delirious said. He put a reassuring hand on Evan’s shoulder.

So maybe the hand wasn’t a good idea. 

On instinct, Evan had grabbed hold of the hand and whirled Delirious around, shoving him against the truck and pinning him there. No wonder, considering Evan was probably coiled up inside like a spring, ready to snap at any second. Neither one of them was really able to process what had happened at first, but Evan finally let go of Delirious, pulling his hands away like he had been burned.

“Oh my god, Jon, I am so sorry. Are you okay?” 

Delirious nodded, turning around slowly and rubbing his arm. He sent Evan a goofy smile, trying to assure him that he was totally fine.

Then they were staring into each other’s eyes, and Delirious was suddenly aware of how Evan seemed to tower over him, and how they were much closer than before, and how the last time the two of them had been somewhat alone, Delirious had literally run away. There were things they should have been doing, and yet, Delirious couldn’t seem to move away. All he could do was stare into Evan’s eyes and pray that he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

“Are you okay?” Evan asked. His breath brushed against Delirious’ cheeks. 

“You already asked me that.” Delirious whispered, cursing how quiet his voice had gotten.

“I don’t mean your arm. You didn’t get hurt when you left to help the other squads?” he asked. Delirious could only shake his head. Something mischievous glinted in Evan’s eyes, and he smirked just enough that Delirious could notice it. His hands moved to cage Delirious against the truck. “Should I check?”

“No, no, no, no, no, that’s okay.” Delirious stuttered, pressing his hands against Evan’s chest to try and keep space between them. “I’m totally good, and we should check to see if anyone needs help. I was supposed to help with first aid.”

Evan chuckled and didn’t move a muscle. 

“I should probably go help now.” Delirious said. He tried to laugh but it came out as a choked noise that made him want to die. So much for not doing anything stupid.

“Hey lovebirds,” Smitty called from across the garage. Both of them snapped to look at him, shocked to see him awake at all. They could see Brock behind him trying to get him to go back to the main house. “Stop fucking against the truck and just come inside.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Evan said, moving away from Delirious and heading for the door. Delirious stood there, unsure of what to do, eyes wide. 

“Did that really just happen?” Delirious asked himself. Evan barked out a laugh, disrupting Delirious’ frozen mindset. The gang boss turned to look at him, holding out a hand.

“It’s true. It just happened, you dork. Come on, don’t you have first aid stuff to do?” 

Delirious grumbled something, refusing to give in to the man. He walked towards the door, moving straight past Evan’s hand. He snorted from behind him, but Delirious refused to look at him. He didn’t want anyone seeing how red his face was, least of all Evan.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Delirious’ body must have moved on autopilot, guiding him to the basement where he found himself stitching up some dude’s foot. According to said dude, a shard of glass had lodged itself right in the top his foot, going through his boot. At least, that’s what Delirious thought he’d said- he’d been screeching the entire time to the point where Delirious wasn’t sure if he’d been speaking English.

“Do you have anymore bandages in here?” Ohm asked, coming into the room.

“I think so. Maybe check the left cabinet.” Delirious responded.

He could hear Ohm rustling through the many packages there before finally finding what he was looking for.

“Awesome. I’ll bring these back in a minute.” Ohm said. Delirious just grunted in response.

Well, it had been more than a minute, he discovered near twenty minutes later. He’d helped three or four other guys after the foot dude and the bandages had yet to be returned. His patient left the room and Delirious ducked out before a new one could come it, looking down the wall of rooms to find Ohm.

“You seen Ohm?” Delirious asked Marcel. He paused for a moment, eyes scanning the busy hallway, before pointing at the closed door second to the end. “Thanks.”

“I don’t know who he’s with though, so you might want to knock.” Marcel called after him. Delirious gave him a thumbs up without turning around, heading for the door.

He knocked once but was met with no answer. He waited there for a solid thirty seconds before knocking again.

“Yeah?” Ohm asked, opening the door just enough so that Delirious could see him but not the inside of the room.

“I was wondering if you were okay since you hadn’t returned the bandages yet.” Delirious said.

“Sorry about that. Give me a sec.” Ohm said, closing the door right in his face.

A group of guys passed him as he stood there at the closed door. They sent him odd looks that made him want to melt into the floor, so he found himself knocking again.

“Ohm, there are some guys looking at me weird, could you just open the door?” Delirious asked, eyes flickering from the door to the rest of the hallway, which was still buzzing with people.

The door swung open and he nearly fell straight into Ohm.

“Woah, I wasn’t expecting you to open it like that.” Delirious laughed, looking up at Ohm, who had closed the door behind him.

Except it wasn’t Ohm, who was actually standing across the room. It was a shirtless Evan with bandages wrapped around his left bicep and his stomach.

“What?” Delirious asked, swallowing deep in his throat. “What happened?”

His hands wandered to graze the bandages on his bicep. His touches were feather light, careful not to apply any pressure to the area.

“He rushed in to get survivors like an idiot and got cut up. He’s been bleeding under his vest for near an hour.” Ohm said. He patted the table. “Come on, Evan, sit back down.”

“I don’t have to do anything you say.” Evan said, grinning. “ _I'm_ the boss.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sit down.” Ohm said. Evan’s face fell, reminding Delirious of a child.

“Okay.” he said quietly, sitting on the table.

“He’s a little out of it, so don’t mind anything he says or does.” Ohm said, turning to face Delirious. “I had to put him on some drugs to do some stitching and his blood loss isn’t helping.”

“I hate needles.” Evan chimed in.

“No more needles for now, Evan.” Ohm said. His attention focused back on Delirious. “We still need to get him a blood bag but I’m not trained for that and I can’t leave him alone like this. Will you stay with him for just a few minutes while I get the bag and someone to do it right?”

“Yeah, of course.” Delirious said. Ohm nodded his thanks, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. They probably didn’t want anyone from Nanners’ gang seeing their esteemed gang boss high on drugs and bleeding all over the place. Delirious was pretty sure he wasn’t bleeding anymore but he honestly didn’t know.

“I really hate needles.” Evan said.

“So I’ve heard.” Delirious responded. Deep inside, he wondered if the Evan from the garage had been acting through his adrenaline and blood loss.

“Jon, come here for a sec.” Evan said, waving him to come closer.

“What for?”

Evan didn’t answer, just gesturing for him to come over. Delirious was wary, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t curious.

“What kind of drugs did Ohm use on you?” Delirious asked, moving so he was about an arm's length away from Evan.

“Good ones.” Evan said. “Ones that make everything kinda silly and needles not so scary.”

“Oh, really? Am I silly?”

Evan shook his head. “You’re not silly, you’re pretty.”

Delirious’ face burned and he was ashamed that the comment made his breath hitch. He played with the zipper on his hoodie, trying to look anywhere but Evan’s sweetly smiling face.

“Did I embarrass you?” Evan teased, leaning forward.

“Shut up.” Delirious muttered.

Evan grabbed the hand on his zipper, halting its movements.

“What’re you-” Delirious started, but Evan cut him off.

“What would you do if I kissed you right now?”

Delirious gaped at the question.

“What do you mean? Why would you kiss me?” Delirious asked.

“Cuz I want to.” Evan said.

Then Evan’s lips were on his and his arms are wrapped around him, one on his waist and the other on the back of his neck. Delirious tried to push away at first, what with the shock of it all and the fact that Evan was most definitely under the influence of drugs and he had been taught to never take advantage of someone who wasn’t able to fully and soberly consent, but he couldn’t escape Evan’s iron grip. It was like Evan was ten times stronger than he was and his entire body had turned to jelly. There was no way out of it.

His eyes drifted shut and his hands tried to grab onto something. There was no shirt to clench so he found himself accidently feeling the expanse of Evan’s chest. To say he wasn’t a little turned on by those muscles would be a lie.

The tongue that probed against his lips had been almost as much of a surprise as the kiss itself, and Delirious wasn’t sure exactly how far this whole thing was going to go. He tried again to push Evan off of him and protect some of their individual dignities but, once again, he was overpowered. It had been a while since he’d had a man’s tongue exploring his mouth, and he had to admit that it had never been so electric.

They broke apart, gulping in air like they hadn’t breathed in hours. It was possible that they hadn’t. The kiss had been that long.

Suddenly Evan was peppering his face with kisses, and Delirious was trying to position a hand between their mouths.

“Evan, wait a second, let’s talk. Evan. Evan!”

“What?” Evan asked. His mouth, the very mouth that had just been kissing him, formed a pout.

“I think this isn’t the right time. You’re drugged up, and I’m probably not who you actually want to kiss, and I don’t want to do something you’ll regret because I really like the BBS and I don’t want to make things awkward between us when you inevitably reveal to me that you didn’t really want to kiss me.” Delirious rambled. Words had never been his strong suit.

Evan cocked an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I want to kiss you?”

“Well, for one, I’m not sure if you actually like guys.” Delirious said. He tried to use this opportunity to remove himself from Evan’s arms, but he remained caged in his embrace. “So maybe we should just wait a second for Ohm to come back with your, uh, your medicine and for you to get better and then we can talk about kissing.”

“Or we can kiss while we wait.” Evan suggested. He leaned forward again, but Delirious moved his head. The kiss landed on his cheek instead.

“Or we can wait, like I said.”

“Or you can stop being a poop and we can kiss.”

“See! I know for a fact that ‘being a poop’ is not part of your regular vocabulary!” Delirious snapped. Evan used that opportunity to reclaim Delirious’ mouth, swallowing his startled squawk.

Delirious was not given any wiggle room, especially when Evan hopped down from the table and switched their positions without ever breaking the kiss. He had Delirious pinned to the table, holding him so Delirious had no chance of escape. If he hadn’t been so worried about what would happen after the kiss, Delirious would have been pleasantly surprised.

But, again, Evan was not in his right mind and Delirious was, on certain occasions, a gentleman.

So, in a very gentlemanly fashion, he began beating his fists against Evan’s back.

And that’s when the door opened.

“Well, what do we have here?” Ohm asked. Evan leaned away, disconnecting their lips, to see who was at the door. Delirious used that opportunity to hiss for someone to get Evan off of him, which Ohm and Marcel, of course it was Marcel, were happy to help with.

Evan sat on the table, a proud smile on his face, the entire time Marcel helped with the blood bag. He didn’t even flinch when he stuck the needle in, choosing instead to wink ‘discreetly’ at Delirious. Meanwhile, Delirious and Ohm stood against the opposite wall. Every few seconds, Ohm would send a suggestive eyebrow wiggle at him. At first he was embarrassed. Maybe mortified was a better word. But then he chose to respond with an eyeroll or middle finger.

“I’ll stay here with him until he’s good to go. You two can go do other stuff.” Marcel said. Delirious was happy to oblige, trying not to step on Ohm’s heels in the doorway and really trying to ignore the whine Evan let out at seeing him leave.

As soon as the door closed, Ohm let out a giant laugh, one that bounce off the walls and echoed in Delirious’ ears.

“I cannot believe a drugged Evan was trying to get in your pants.” Ohm laughed.

“Shut up.” Delirious hissed. “Do not let anyone know about that, especially Cartoonz.”

At that, Ohm stopped laughing. To all of the others in the hallway, he looked normal, if not a little relaxed. But Delirious had come to know that face. He was up to no good.

“No.” Delirious said, shaking his head and reaching out to grab hold of Ohm’s arm. “Ohm, no.”

Ohm avoided his hand, mouth breaking out into a grin. And then, he was already in a run down the hallway, making a break for the stairs.

“Ohm!” Delirious practically shrieked, taking off after him. “You don’t know what this is going to do. You don’t even know what happened.”

“Luke!” Ohm was yelling in front if him, running up the stairs towards the living room.

“No, no, no, no.” Delirious followed.

Delirious was gaining on him, and tackled him when they finally reached the living room.

It seemed to be no use, however, as Cartoonz was already standing there, having heard the commotion.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Del and Evan were making out.” Ohm said, though Delirious tried his best to cover his mouth.

“They were what?” Cartoonz asked, eyes wide and a grin growing on his face.

“No we weren’t! Ohm has no idea what he’s talking about. He pricked his finger when he was trying to give this dude some medicine and now he’s loopy and I need to take him to his room to sleep the entire night in isolation.” Delirious rambled.

Cartoonz grabbed the back of his hoodie, pulling him to his feet. He brushed him off silently. Then, he carefully helped Ohm up, brushing him off the same way he had with Delirious, though Delirious did notice the way his hands moved a little slower around Ohm’s ass. Finally, he took a deep breath, hands coming up to rest of both of their shoulders.

“So,” he started, voice serious. “Spill the deets.”

“Ugh!” Delirious groaned, ripping away from his friend. The other two laughed at him.

“I’m sure it was fantastic. Evan’s no push over in the looks, so I can’t imagine it being that unpleasant.” Cartoonz said.

“He was drugged up! And he’s the one that pulled me in, not the other way around. I was trying to be a good person and respect the rules of consent.” Delirious snapped.

“Yeah, yeah, I know your rules.” Cartoonz said.

“It was pretty intense, if I do say so myself.” Ohm said.

“You couldn’t even see it!” Delirious exclaimed, hand coming up to sloppily gesture to Ohm’s bandana.

At that, Ohm and Cartoonz shared a glance, then both exploded into laughter.

“He thinks you can’t see!” Cartoonz gasped through his laughter. Ohm was holding onto his shoulder, trying not to collapse.

“Ohm can see?” Delirious asked, eyes wide.

This just caused a pick up in the laughter.

“What’s going on?” Nogla asked, coming over.

“Delirious thought Ohm couldn’t see!” Cartoonz said.

Nogla rose an eyebrow. “Ohm can see? But he’s wearing a bandana.”

The laughter stopped, and both Cartoonz and Ohm stared at Nogla. Apparently Ohm could see now so Delirious guessed that he actually was looking at Nogla.

“Are you serious?” Ohm asked.

“It is Nogla. Why are we surprised?” Cartoonz said.

“Hey!” Nogla exclaimed.

“Could I have a little help up here?” Nanners yelled down the stairs.

Cartoonz and Ohm were on alert right away, heading up to the game room, as if finally remembering the serious nature of what was happening. Nogla went back to the kitchen where he was making a pot of coffee.

“Are we just not going to talk about the fact that Ohm can see?” Delirious asked.

“Wait,” Brian said, pausing in his movements as he came up the stairs, bundle of towels in his arms. “Ohm can see?”


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Delirious followed Cartoonz and Ohm up the stairs, seeing as he had nothing else to do. There seemed to be a tired dispute between some of the members of Nanners’ gang over sleeping arrangements. In Delirious’ opinion, it shouldn’t matter. All the cots were the same and they weren’t permanent. Besides, it was already like three A.M. so they would only be in bed for a few hours. But Nanners’ guys thought otherwise, and their poor gang boss was too exhausted to deal with the petty arguments anymore.

“Come on, break it up.” Cartoonz said, getting directly between two guys caught in a tense staring match. “You really wanna embarrass yourselves like this?”

“Shut the fuck up.” one of them spat. Delirious could tell that Cartoonz was getting annoyed with them already, having never been one for ending fights and instead one for starting them. Also, this was, in fact, Cartoonz’ house, and there was some idiot challenging that.

“Just take a cot and lay down. It’s not that big of a deal.” Ohm interjected, trying to take some of the attention off of Cartoonz. It only seemed to make things worse.

“Not that big of a deal? My base was destroyed today, no thanks to any of you assholes.” the man said.

So this time it seemed that Cartoonz wasn’t who they needed to worry about.

Ohm grabbed the man’s collar, pulling him so that they were nose to nose. Everyone around them panicked, surprised that Ohm had gotten physical. Cartoonz put a hand on Ohm’s other arm, but it did nothing. They could only watch.

“No thanks to us?” Ohm snarled. “We’re the only reason your body isn’t buried under a pile of rubble. One of my friends took a bullet to get you all out. I dare you to go down there and fucking tell him that he did nothing.”

He released his grip on the now deathly pale man who took a frantic step back to put distance between the two of them. All of the men in the area had tuned in, many of them now with a guilty look on their face.

“Anyone else who wants to complain can find their asses on the sidewalk out front.” Ohm snapped, turning on his heel and marching down the stairs. 

“Mic drop.” Nanners muttered, taking a seat on one of the cots. He made brief eye contact with Delirious and they sent each other small smiles. 

Cartoonz was looking around the room, staring down each person until they made their way to a cot or hammock and sat down. When the majority of the men had seated, Cartoonz sent a final glare at the first two men and headed back down to the living room. He grabbed hold of Delirious’ shirt as he passed, pulling him along with him.

“That was eventful.” Delirious said, trying to break the atmosphere around Cartoonz. He received a half hearted grunt in response. 

The living room held most of the BBS members. All of Nanners’ guys had gotten the medical attention they needed and were making their way up to the game room, leaving the BBS to their own recovery. While they were the ones with a still functioning base, they still kinda had their asses kicked. That wasn’t a easy thing to swallow, it didn’t matter who’s gang it was.

They settled on the couch next to a still fuming Ohm, looking out over the mostly silent room. Brian and Brock were standing by the kitchen making sure that the other was fine. Wildcat and Craig were quietly discussing something. Marcel, Scotty, and Anthony were all taking swigs of beer and seemingly trying to focus on anything but the noises above them. Bryce and Lui were both leaning on Nogla, and they were all dozing while still having a conversation.

A cold chill ran down Delirious’ back when he realized the two people missing from the room were Evan and Smitty. 

“Hey, where’s-” he started, only to be cut off by Ohm.

“Upstairs with Droidd. They’re both resting.” he answered. Delirious nodded, taking a breath to slow his heart.

“Why, you wanna go make out?” Cartoonz teased, though his smile didn’t meet his eyes. It made Ohm chuckle though.

“Ha ha.” Delirious said. God, if the floor could just swallow him whole.

Wildcat stood, clearing his throat. All eyes in the room turned to him. Delirious could see Brock take Brian’s hand, bringing his palm to his lips for a brief kiss. The back of Delirious’ hand burned.

“Evan’s in his room. He got a little bloody getting guys out after the explosion. Nothing he won’t already be ignoring by morning.” There was a round of chuckles through the room. “So I’m debriefing this mission. We ended with only two injuries requiring attention- Evan’s scratching and Smitty’s bullet wound. Both of them are expected to recover at normal rates, thanks to Droidd, Anthony, Marcel, and Ohm.”

Someone, either Ohm or Marcel, said “And Delirious.” to which all of the room laughed. He couldn’t remember which because he was too busy wishing he was dead.

“Tomorrow morning we’ll begin tracking down exactly which gang attacked Nanners’ base last night, though I’m sure we all have a pretty clear cut suspect in our minds, as well as rebuilding their base. We’ll assign who’s doing what in the morning. For now, everyone go get a few hours of sleep. We did well today.” Wildcat finished.

Delirious groaned as he stood up, stretching. He waited for a minute, letting the others head up to their rooms first. Anthony was in the kitchen, filling a cup of coffee instead of rushing anywhere. When he noticed Delirious’ look, he smiled at him.

“I watch the cameras.” he explained. “Don’t got a bed because I don’t want one, so I normally sleep on the couch in there. I got to pick the couch so I don’t mind.” He let out that big, full laugh of his. “Anyways, good night Delirious.”

“Night.” Delirious said, watching as he disappeared into the camera room. Then he made his way up the stairs, trying to ignore the fact that Ohm was standing outside of Cartoonz’ room and the two of them were still talking, and went into his room. He suddenly didn’t have enough energy to change, just pulling off his shirt and jeans and collapsing into his bed.

Someone was shaking him awake before he’d even slept, or at least it felt like it. 

“They need your help watching the ‘food line’.” Cartoonz said. Delirious would always be able to recognize his exhausted voice, no matter how much time passed.

So Delirious ended up downstairs in the living room watching what they were calling the ‘food line’, which was the assembly line style breakfast that Ohm and Brock had prepared for all of the men staying in the base. He was supposed to be there in case any of them got feisty like the night before, but he could tell that their fiery spirit had disappeared. They all looked sunken in and so utterly defeated that Delirious couldn’t help but pity them. 

The ones that were injured got to eat first, then they hurried down to the basement to get bandages rewrapped and stitches looked at. Those were the guys who had dead eyes and downward stares, the ones that made Delirious’ shoulders raise and hair on the back of his neck stand. These were the fighters who had completely lost their spirits. It reminded him of how they weren’t sure if Nanners was going to make them all fight. He couldn’t tell if these events were going to make it more or less likely.

“Are you Delirious?” one of the guys asked, coming to stand next to him after dropping his dirty paper plate in the garbage can. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, younger than Delirious but older than someone like Bryce or Smitty. 

“Yeah.” Delirious said. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was supposed to say to that, especially since it was the first time he had been recognized without his mask, but the man smiled.

“I didn’t think you were in a gang.” he said.

“It’s a newer thing. I’m not a gang person.” The man laughed.

“From what I’d heard, you’re kinda a lone wolf. Yet, somehow, you look like you belong here.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Delirious said. He could feel a hot blush crawling up his neck at that comment, along with some sort of unfamiliar pride low in his stomach. “I don’t think I caught your name.”

“Sorry about that. I’m Matt.” He held out a hand, which Delirious gladly shook. “I’m a technical engineer for Nanners. I do less for the gang and more for the business side of things, actually. Yesterday was kinda a nightmare for me.”

“I’m sure it was a nightmare for more than just you.” Delirious assured, to which Matt’s smile softened.

“Thanks. That means a lot coming from a legend like you.” It was said teasingly but Delirious felt flustered by it. 

They stood next to each other, abandoning the conversation and instead watching the others in the room. Most of the members of the BBS were in the basement, leaving only Delirious, Brock, and Lui upstairs. Smitty and Evan were still in their rooms. Delirious hoped he could avoid the latter for as long as possible, especially if someone like Cartoonz was going to be there at the same time.

“Morning.” Gassy said, coming up to Delirious. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all, and it was very possible that he hadn’t. From what Delirious had personally seen of him, Gassy wasn’t a particularly smiley man. In fact, he might not have ever smiled while Delirious was around. Yet, he tried to make a pleasant expression, as if it was something normal between the two of them. 

They both knew that it turned out more like a pained grimace, but neither one of them said anything about it.

“Morning.”

“Did you get anything to eat yet?” Gassy asked. Delirious shook his head. “I’m sure they’d let you.”

“It’s food for you guys, not us. Besides, I’m not that hungry in the mornings.”

Gassy didn’t look convinced but let it go. The three of them stood, once again silent, and Delirious wondered if there was something about him that made conversations die. 

“Ay, yo, Del, can I grab some help over here?” 

Delirious’ head snapped to look at the stairs, where a paler than usual but otherwise regular Smitty was hobbling down the steps. He practically sprinted to reach his friend. 

“Smitty, what are you doing? Should you be on bed rest or something?” Delirious asked, helping him down the stairs.

“I need some milk.” Smitty responded, though it sounded like he was just waving Delirious off.

“I could have brought it to you.” he said, but Smitty just rolled his eyes and lightly shrugged Delirious arms away.

“I got shot, not killed. If I want some milk, you can bet that I’m going to come on down here and get my own goddamn milk.” Smitty said, moving around the line of men to pull a carton of milk from the refrigerator. He drank straight from it, putting it back inside and trudging back to Delirious. “Come with me to the basement.”

They headed to basement stairs. Delirious could see Matt send him a confused smile and he tried to smile back. It didn’t seem to come too naturally.

“So, I hear we have a lot to talk about.” Smitty said, and, though Delirious couldn’t see his face, he could practically hear his smug expression.

“We do?”

“Well, when I last saw you, Evan had you pinned to a car, and, at least from what I hear, the two of you have been busy since then.” 

Delirious had forgotten all about the event in the garage in his constant turmoil since the kissing incident. He hoped that he’d never have to remember it again or, better yet, that Evan would forget all about it and not want to unavoidably kick him out of the gang like Delirious was sure he would.

“Listen, Evan was obviously not in his right mind and I think we should all try our best to forget about it for his sake.”

Smitty gave him a look that could only be described as pure sass.

“Boy, try again. Do not act like y’all didn’t go on a burrito date like two days ago.”

“It was yesterday.”

“What?”

“We went for burritos yesterday morning.”

“Really? It feels like so much has happened since then.”

“I know.”

“Huh. So the burrito date was yesterday.”

“It wasn’t a date!” Delirious snapped, but Smitty just laughed at him, heading straight into a room where Marcel was waiting for him. He hadn’t even realized that they’d reached the basement. A pair of men, one using crutches and the other nursing a broken arm, gave him strange looks as they passed. He tried to shoot them a smile but gave up halfway through the action. It didn’t matter what they thought of him anyways.

“What’re you doing down here?” Ohm asked as he came out of another room. He, much like Gassy, looked absolutely exhausted in every way, but he still managed to light up the hallway a little just by walking in it. He and Evan both did that, when he thought about it.

“Smitty asked me to come down with him. He’s with Marcel now, and I’m going back up.” Delirious said. Ohm smiled.

“Great. I’m going up too.”

They started up the stairs. It was the first time that he had been with Ohm that the air had felt heavy between the two of them. Ohm had been a type of escape from this uncomfortable feeling. 

“It’s a special material.” Ohm said.

“What is?”

“My bandana. It’s see through for me, but opaque for anyone else. I had been in an accident, one that prompted me to start working in the first gang I ever joined, and my eyes had been wrapped for almost six months. When we first took them off, I not only hated the way my face looked, but the lights and movements were overwhelming. So, I wore bandanas and masks to block it all out. By then I’d joined the gang and was able to do quite a bit, but there’s only so much you can do without being able to see. A fellow gang mate had been watching a fashion show with her girlfriend when she saw a certain type of fabric that she thought would work perfectly for my situation. It couldn’t be completely visible because then it wouldn’t hide my eyes, but it was perfect for what I needed, and helped adjust my eyes back to light. It became my image too, which is why I wear them even now. People used to call me the ‘Masked Shooter’ when I was first starting out. I guess I’m too sentimental to give it up now.” 

Delirious had no idea what to say. He didn’t want to sound insensitive, or too eager to know more about Ohm’s past. Compared to some of the other guys, and Delirious himself, Ohm had said relatively nothing about who he was. Delirious was glad that he had opened up, even if just a little.

“Delirious,” Ohm started, stopping a few steps from the bustling living room. They stood there, just out of view, staring at each other before Ohm finally continued. “We’re glad that you’re here. The BBS is better with you in it.”

“Is everything okay?” Delirious asked, and the bottom of Ohm’s face seemed to tighten for a split second before he forced it to relax again. 

“Yeah.” he said, and his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Delirious didn’t believe him. There was no way a cryptic answer like that was truthful. Ohm was not the type of person to beat around the bush with him, at least that’s what he’d thought. If something was wrong with Ohm, Delirious would want to help in any way possible. Maybe the way Ohm needed him was just as someone who was there for him, and, hell, Delirious would do just that.

The two of them wandered into the living room just as many of Nanners’ men were going up to the game room. The entirety of the non-injured portion of Nanners’ gang was going to their base to start clean up. First they were heading to the BBS’ supplier of ‘all things clothing’ to get outfits that would let all of them blend in while rummaging through a building involved in a gang fight. Delirious wasn’t entirely sure what exactly those outfits would be, but he was sure that this supplier knew better than he did.

So, Delirious waited just until the final car had driven off to head upstairs with Brock to help clean the game room. Sure, the people who’d slightly trashed it should probably do it, but they figured it’d be easiest for everyone if the two of them buckled down and focused on it themselves.

“I need to grab some air freshener from the garage. It smells too much like dirty men in here for my taste.” Brock said, making a face. “Need anything?”

“Nope.” Delirious responded. Brock nodded and headed down the stairs, leaving Delirious in the game room by himself. Just because Brock was gone didn’t mean he could take a break, so he continued reorganizing the cots and tightening the hammock straps so they wouldn’t fall.

He was on his hands and knees, reaching for a fallen hook, when he heard Brock come back. 

“What are you doing?” the man laughed. Delirious could already hear him spraying the air freshener.

“Trying to grab this hook. I need it to fix this cot or it’ll fall when someone sits on it.” He strained, but it was wedged right where he couldn’t reach it from that side.

“Hey, Brock, have you seen Delirious?” came a sudden voice from the stairs.

That was not the voice Delirious wanted to hear. No, he needed to get as far from that voice as possible. 

His body reacted with that thought and he sprung upwards, flipping the cot into the air. It collapsed on top of him and he struggled to throw it off. That darned hook was caught in his hair!

“Uh, he’s right there.” Brock said. “Actually, I gotta get air freshener from the garage, so I’m just gonna go.”

“You have an air freshener.” Delirious hissed.

“No I don’t.” Brock said.

“You’re holding it!” 

Brock and Evan both looked at Brock’s hand where, sure enough, there was a can of air freshener. In one quick motion, Brock launched the can across the room where it bounced down the stairs. Delirious could hear it rolling on the ground the floor below.

“Whoops, I should probably go get that. Bye.” Brock said quickly, throwing his hands up like it was one huge mistake. He then practically sprinted down the stairs and as far from the two of them as he could get. Delirious had a feeling that he wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.

Then it was just Evan and Delirious and the cot hooked in his hair. Evan seemed like he was about to speak, his stupid gorgeous face moving in an apologetic fashion that somehow made Delirious feel bad, before he realized that Delirious was trapped.

“Here, let me help with that.” Evan said, rushing over to him. 

Delirious couldn’t go anywhere, couldn’t put the distance between them that he desperately needed. As Evan’s hand rose above him to help weave the hook out of his hair, he could only think of those hands holding onto him. The eyes watching the hook had stared straight into him a day before, watching him like some sort of pray that Evan needed to catch. No, he might have already caught him.

“Gosh, how did this get so tangled? Your hair isn’t even that long.” Evan joked, breaking Delirious from his thoughts. Evan let out a joyous noise and the weight lifted from Delirious’ neck and back. In one quick motion, Delirious had pushed himself up and away, stumbling a few feet back. A pained expression flickered across Evan’s face. 

They stared at each other, neither one knowing what to say. Delirious wanted to run, but it was like he was frozen in place. Where would he go? Hide in his room? Up in the office? In the kitchen? Where could he go that Evan couldn’t? Everything around him belonged to the man in front of him.

“Listen Jon, I wanted to apologize for yesterday.” Evan started. It sent a strike of panic through Delirious’ body. His heart dropped to his stomach.

Why did he suddenly hate the idea of it all being a mistake? Why couldn’t he hear Evan just come out and say it was all due to the medicine and to the blood loss when it’s all he’d been thinking for hours? 

“Listen, I wasn’t acting in my right mind and-”

“Stop.” 

They watched one another, both shocked that he’d spoken at all. Neither was sure what to do next. Delirious didn’t know why he told him to stop. He shouldn’t keep them both waiting for what they both knew Evan was going to say. Yet, he couldn’t make himself listen. Everything hurt inside but he didn’t know why. He’d prepared himself for it since these events, these accidents, had happened. So why couldn’t he hear Evan say it? 

“Listen, I have to go.” Delirious said. He tried to move around Evan, who was slowly standing as if trying not to scare away a frightened animal. “I, uh, I need to, uh, go. Somewhere not here now.”

“Jon.” Evan said.

“No.” Delirious said, turning quickly. Evan was quicker, grabbing Delirious’ wrist. Delirious whipped around, trying to break free. “Let go.”

“Not until you listen to me.” 

“I’m not going to listen so let go.” 

“Jon, just-”

“Don’t call me that.” Delirious snapped.

They froze. He hadn’t meant to say it, he really hadn’t. It had come out so naturally, as if he was in a fight with Cartoonz who was doing everything he could to annoy him. He wanted Evan to call him Jon, he really did. He wanted him to call him Jon, he wanted him to tell him that it wasn’t a mistake, and he wanted him to kiss him again.

The hand released him. 

“Sorry.” Evan said. “I’m sorry.”

Delirious turned and ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this chapter is late! I was in Washington D.C. at the March for Our Lives, and the place I was staying in didn't have wifi. I'm trying to figure out a way to make it up to you guys if you want, whether that be in another chapter this week before Saturday or in the form of a one shot. Let me know if y'all would want something like that!  
> Anyways, thanks for waiting! And sorry for an angsty chapter...


	17. Chapter Seventeen

“Nasty.” Smitty breathed, staring down at his bullet hole. Marcel chuckled. He reached around Smitty to wrap him with bandages.

“Yeah, it’s fucking nasty. Maybe it’ll inspire you not to get shot next time.” Smitty faked offence, but he wasn’t really upset by the comment.

“You think I was trying to get shot? For the memes?”

All it took was one eyebrow raise for him to burst into laughter. 

There was frantic knocking on the door, and Smitty calmed down. Marcel handed him the roll of bandages and opened the door, revealing a shaking Delirious. 

Smitty would take a hundred more nasty ass bullet wounds if it meant he’d never have to see Delirious like that again.

“Yo, are you okay?” Marcel asked, pulling Delirious into the room and shutting the door behind him. He rolled the little stool over with his foot, pushing lightly on Delirious’ shoulders until he sat on it.

Smitty didn’t need Delirious to answer that. He already knew what had happened. He could tell by the terror peeking out from his eyes. Delirious was worried that he was going to be kicked out of the BBS. It was an unreasonable idea. There had never been a member kicked out, no matter what had been done, and Delirious wouldn’t be the first. Smitty wouldn’t allow it, and he knew that Cartoonz and Ohm shared the same sentiment. In a very short time, he’d already bonded with each and every member of the BBS. Nothing could change that.

“What happened, Del?” Marcel asked, having received practically no reaction. He was worried, Smitty could tell, but he resumed his wrapping of Smitty’s wound as if to make it seem like Delirious wasn’t being interrogated.

“Nothing.” he finally answered. He shook his head slightly as if trying to clear his own thoughts. “It was nothing, I guess. Just a moment of weakness.”

Marcel and Smith shared a look. 

“Did something spark this moment?” Smitty asked.

“I couldn’t fix this one cot. Guess I feel kinda dumb cuz I couldn’t do something as simple as that.” Delirious laughed, but it lacked any of the energy they were used to hearing from it. “Probably looked like an idiot in front of Brock. I gave up when he left to grab some air freshener and figured you guys would let me hide from him down here.”

“Yeah.” Marcel said, and he shared that look with Smitty again. “Of course, buddy.”

“Your secret is safe with us.” Smitty followed up.

“Thanks.”

There was an odd sort of silence. Marcel continued wrapping Smitty’s bandages while Delirious just sat there, palest he’d ever been but trying to look natural. 

“All done.” Marcel said, tapping Smitty on his good side. The boy smiled in thanks, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head. He hopped down from the table, choosing to stand in front of Delirious until the other man looked up.

“Escort me?” Smitty asked.

The smile in response was small, but at least it looked more like Delirious than before.

They headed up the stairs in silence, though Smitty couldn’t help but notice how Delirious seemed to stiffen towards the game room, relaxing only when he saw that there was no one inside. Whatever had happened had happened in the game room, that was for sure.

“So, I’m thinking curry tonight.” Smitty said. At Delirious’ look, he elaborated. “The shot person gets to choose dinner the first day they’re allowed to eat. And I am getting curry tonight if it’s the last thing I do.”

“You like curry that much?” Delirious asked.

“Nah. I just think it’ll be funny. Tyler gets hella bad shits when he eats curry, and we all know it, but he still eats it anyways.”

“Hey, have either of you seen Evan?” Ohm asked, popping his head out from, for some reason, Cartoonz’ room. 

Delirious stiffened again. So, whatever had happened had been with Evan in the game room. Wow, Smitty felt like he was playing Clue.

“Nope. If we see him, we’ll tell him that you’re looking for him.” Smitty said. Ohm nodded, disappearing back into the room and shutting the door behind him. “So, why do you think Ohm is in Cartoonz’ room?”

“Dunno.” 

Yep, something was up. There was no way a right minded Delirious would have been able to dismiss something like that.

“Okay bud. We’re going to hide in my room and you’re going to tell me everything.” Smitty grabbed onto to Delirious’ shirt and dragged him up the final set of stairs and into Smitty’s room.

The door clicked behind them just as Evan walked out of the office and down the stairs. He needed to find Delirious and clear everything up. He didn’t like this tension and misunderstanding between them. Sure he was hyped up on drugs and adrenaline when everything had happened, but he didn’t regret it. Not a second. All he wanted to do was make sure that Jon was alright after Evan coming on to him like that. 

He wanted to give him time, but maybe that wasn’t what was needed. With everything up in the air as it was, he didn’t want one of them to get injured, or worse, without the opportunity to fix this. 

“Evan!” Ohm shouted as he passed the fourth floor. The man ran out from Cartoonz’ room, at least Evan was pretty sure that was Cartoonz’ room, and up to him. “Hey, I really need to talk to you for a moment.”

“Sorry, can this wait? I need to find Delirious really quick.” Evan said. Ohm shook his head. 

“It’s important. And it’s about Delirious.”

“How important?”

“Important enough that we shouldn’t be talking about it on the stairs.” Ohm said. Evan nodded. Delirious could wait, especially since this conversation apparently involved him. 

They found themselves in his office, with Evan seated in his chair and Ohm standing awkwardly at attention on the other side of his desk. It was the first time in the entire time that Evan had known Ohm that he seemed reluctant to tell him something. The two of them were different from how they were with anyone else, though sometimes it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. They’d decided that Ohm would do whatever Evan asked of him, and Evan would trust Ohm no matter what, never to throw him to the streets. Still, Evan was always reluctant to send Ohm off places. He didn’t want to if he didn’t have to, because Ohm was his most trustworthy friend.

So something must be very wrong for him to be acting like this.

“I got a call from Beard last night. I wasn’t going to answer because I don’t like him giving me information for seemingly nothing, but he was persistent, almost like it was urgent, so I picked up. He said that he’d found more stuff of La Chrome and his operation. Apparently, a few years after La Chrome ‘died’, some of his loyal men tracked down Delirious. They said that La Chrome wanted him to help rebuild his empire. Delirious said no, and La Chrome had bigger things to deal with than forcing him to, so nothing came of it.” He sucked in a deep breath, and Evan had a feeling that he knew where this was heading. “Brian said that the only unprotected profile during the hack was Delirious’. We didn’t think anything of it at the time, because we didn’t know who we were up against, but, it is. It’s big.

“Beard got news that La Chrome wants Delirious in his gang no matter what the cost is. It’s almost like a type of redemption, proof that he’s back and he’s just as powerful as he was years ago. And learning Delirious is part of the gang that he now desperately wants to destroy has just sweetened the idea of stealing him from us and then forcing him to join.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Evan snapped. “Where is Delirious? I need to talk to him right away.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It might be best to just keep him with others in the group and focus on taking down La Chrome.” Ohm said, but Evan was determined. “Evan, wait!”

“I need to talk to him about this and about something else, so it’s best if I do it all in one go.” Evan said. “So, where is he?”

“Are you two talking about Delirious?” Marcel asked, coming up the stairs with two bags of washed clothes. “Do either of you know what was up with him? He was acting all weird, and they went up to Smitty’s room to take his mind off of stuff, or something.”

“I was actually going to check on him now.” Evan said, hurrying up the stairs towards the fifth floor.

Ohm sent Marcel what must have been a dirty look without the eyes before following after him.

“What did I do?” Marcel called after him. When he didn’t get a response, he shrugged to himself and carried on his way.

“Evan, seriously, you might want to think this through. What are you even going to say?” Ohm asked.

“Am I not allowed to talk with Delirious?” Evan shot back. 

“Well, no, but-”

“Great, then there’s no problem here.”

“Seriously?”

Evan knocked on Smitty’s door before Ohm could stop him, so he sighed and leaned against Delirious’ door. Hopefully he could stop Evan from saying too much. He had yet to tell Delirious that La Chrome was trying to contact him again because he didn’t know exactly how to approach that conversation. He tried to when they were standing on the stairs but he couldn’t get the words out, though he couldn’t exactly figure out why. 

The door opened. Smitty was definitely up to no good. That face screamed it, but Ohm kept his mouth shut.

“I need to talk to Delirious.” Evan said.

“He’s not here.” Smitty said, almost immediately after Evan finished his sentence.

“Yes he is.” Evan said.

“No he’s not. He went into his room like fifteen minutes ago, saying something about changing into some comfier clothes.”

Evan rounded on Ohm before he had time to react. This was his chance to make him stop.

“Okay, move.” Evan said, but Ohm blocked him every time he reached to knock on the door.

“No, we need to decide what our course of action is before we tell him.” Ohm hissed. 

He was glad that his bandana was on because his eyes nearly bugged out of his face when Delirious snuck out of Smitty’s room, moving silently past Evan before he and the younger boy booked it down the stairs. Damn, Smitty really had been up to no good.

“Ohm.” Evan warned.

“Fine, go ahead and knock. He won’t answer.” Ohm said, walking away. Evan made a relieved sound from behind him but he really wouldn’t find Delirious in there, no matter how much he knocked. He almost felt bad, but he warned him.

Besides, it was up to him to tell Delirious about La Chrome. Beard had given him that information and it was up to him to deliver it. Evan would just say something insensitive or start kissing him or some shit. Ohm loved Evan, he really did, but sometimes he turned into a big dick when he got stressed out.

“You didn’t tell Evan, did you?” Smitty whispered. Ohm hadn’t even noticed that the two of them were trying to break into Cartoonz’ room, so he was glad that Smitty had called out to him or he would have walked right past.

“No. I didn’t.” Ohm said. He whipped out Cartoonz’ spare key, pushing past them to open the door and let them in. 

It was much cleaner than anyone would have expected from him and Smitty whistled quietly as they walked in. Ohm knew that Cartoonz wouldn’t mind, it was just Delirious and Smitty afterall, and he’d trusted Ohm with his spare for a reason. He figured this was a pretty good reason to use it, besides just needing to be somewhere calm for a moment.

“What did he need Del for?” Smitty asked. Delirious’ cheeks were dusted with pink but he didn’t look at all happy. Ohm wondered if something had happened.

“I actually need to tell you about that now..” Ohm said, looked straight at Delirious. He nodded, taking a seat on the edge of Cartoonz’ bed. “La Chrome wants you to join his gang.”

Smitty’s face turned white like he’d seen a ghost and none of them were prepared for the shriek he let out. “Excuse me?”


	18. Chapter Eighteen

“This is fucking boring as fuck. Why the fuck am I here?” Cartoonz asked.

“Because we needed some muscle. Just in case.” Gassy said. They were watching the members of Nanners’ gang clean up the base, making sure that no one got out of hand and started fighting again or some shit.

“In case of what?”

“What? Is there something you’d rather be doing?” Gassy asked. He had a knowing look on his face so Cartoonz chose to ignore him, moving to the next room.

Could he be doing some work and helping? Yeah, sure he could. Was he going to? No fucking way.

“Hey, who said you could take a break, bitch boy?” he heard someone say.

“Sorry, I just got a little tired.”

“We’re all tired. What makes you so special?”

Cartoonz peered into the room. There was a bigger man looking down at a smaller guy, one who was covered in dust and sweat and looking like he was at death’s door.

“I’m sorry, I’ll get back to work in one second, I just need to take a breather.”

The bigger guy shoved the other dude hard, and he tripped on a pile of debris and fall backwards.

“Hey, what the shit do you think you’re doing?” Cartoonz asked, pushing past the dude to help the smaller man up.

“Listen, he wasn’t doing his fucking work. It’s not my fault.” the big guy said.

“I’ll send someone else in here, but if I hear that you’ve been causing trouble again, I’ll cut your dick off.” Cartoonz warned. He led the man out of the room and called out to Gassy as they passed. “Gassy, I’m gonna get this guy some water. Will you send someone else into that room?”

“Will do.” he responded.

“Thank you.” the man said, quietly.

“I haven’t done anything yet.” Cartoonz said. He led the man to one of the trucks outside, opening the door so that he could sit down. He reached into the back and pulled out a bottle of water. “Here. Drink up.”

The man nodded, downing half of the bottle in a few gulps. There was already a little bit of color returning to his cheeks, but Cartoonz could tell that this type of labor wasn’t his strong suit.

“Feel a little better?”

“Yeah, thanks. I’m a technical engineer, so I’m not used to this work.” he said.

“That’s a pretty kickass job. How come that dude got all on your case?” Cartoonz asked. The man laughed, but it sounded sort of melancholy.

“The guys in the gang don’t like me very much. The higher ups do, and so do the other engineers, which is all that really matters to me. But, still, the big guys like to pick on me. It’s okay though, I don’t normally have to deal with them.” he said. “Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself to you. I’m Matt.”

“Cartoonz. It’s a pleasure.”

“The pleasure is all mine, really. You’re the nicest person I’ve seen since this morning.”

Cartoonz laughed. “Since this morning? Tell me, who beat me for nicest person?”

“Delirious. He’s a member of the BBS now, I guess. Nice guy.” Matt said, smiling.

“Delirious, huh?” Cartoonz asked. “Fucking bitch.”

“Sorry, do you have a problem with him?” Matt asked. Cartoonz could see that he had tensed up, as if worried that he had offended him.

“No, no problems at all. He’s my little brother.”

Matt’s face lit up. “Really? That’s awesome.”

“I guess. Kinda sucks when he’s always beating me at stuff though. What’d he do that was so nice?”

“Just had a conversation with me even though he didn’t have to. I was so nervous being around all of the gang that I gravitated towards someone I recognized that wouldn’t recognize me.” Matt shrugged, taking another sip from the bottle. “It wasn’t a particularly long conversation, but it was nice. Comforting.”

“He’s a comforting sort of guy, in a way. At least, when he’s not stabbing people.”

They stayed there, relaxing outside of the broken building and in the evening sun. Cartoonz wouldn’t give up the feeling of Los Santos’ air on his skin for any other place. He didn’t crave a vacation or an adventure in the other side of the world. He really just wanted to sit back on the beach with his feet in the sand, and Ohm by his side, and Delirious and Smitty and Buddy running and playing in the water. There was nothing like Delirious’ laughter, and he had missed it for the years they’d been apart. Once everything had calmed down, maybe they’d get to go to the beach and all laugh together.

“Think you can handle a few more hours of work? We can find something easy to do, and I’ll help. I don’t want to fucking do anything either.”

“Yeah.” Matt said, dropping the water bottle into the seat and shutting the door.

“Okay, so I’m thinking collecting some dust into a bucket and then dunking it on Gassy’s head.”

“Does that count as work?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

.

.

.

“I don’t want to go. I want to get a burger. And fries. Oh, and a big ass milkshake!” Craig whined from the back of the car.

“If you say one more thing about food, I’m turning this car around.” Brian snapped.

“Could you turn us around into a McDonald’s drive thru? Please and thanks.”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch.” Brian said, but with Brock laughing quietly from the seat beside him and Bryce giggling in the back seat, he couldn’t be too angry.

“How far away is the meet up point?” Bryce asked.

“Maybe thirty more minutes.”

“I have to pee.” Craig cried.

“I swear to fucking Christ, Craig!”

“You think they’re trustworthy?” Brock asked. Brian stilled, and the air in the car got a little heavier.

“Hopefully. They weren’t when I last saw them, but they were being used. Hopefully they’ve changed in the four or so years since then.” Brian said.

“Didn’t they call you? How do we know they aren’t getting paid for luring us into a trap?” Craig asked.

“They’re not good enough liers.” Brian said, but he wasn’t confident. It had been a long time, and people can change a lot in less time. Besides, the last he’d seen them, they’d tried to kill their third. Two of The Irish Triplets, somewhat well known in some circles of the underground, had been tricked into trying to kill the third. If it hadn’t been for Nogla’s resourcefulness, as well as Lui bringing Brian to the triplet’s base because he felt that something was wrong, Nogla very well might have died.

He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of them since, and him and Lui made sure that Nogla would have exactly zero contact with either, though Brian thought that he’d heard that Nogla’s sister had ended up in state prison and his brother was expecting a child. That said, they had told him to meet them, and to not bring Nogla with him. He’d figured that their lives as criminals were over, but he’d been wrong.

“Stuck in your head again?” Brock muttered, placing a hand on Brian’s thigh.

Brian’s eyes flickered to look in the mirror, and, upon seeing that Craig and Bryce were having their own quiet conversation, nodded.

“It’ll be hard to see them again, huh?” Brian nodded again. “The second something feels off, we can leave. It doesn’t matter if they have valuable information or not.”

“No, I know. They screwed over their closest family in the past. I won’t give them an opportunity to screw mine.”

“Aw, babe, I don’t want anyone to screw me except for you.” Brock cooed, leaning to give him a soft peck on the cheek.

“Yuck.” Craig said from the back but Bryce smacked him in the chest.

“You idiot, you ruined the moment!”

  
.

.

.

“What’re you doing?” Nogla asked. He came up from the garage to Anthony and Scotty sitting upside down on one of the couches with their feet straight up in the air and heads nearly touching the floor.

“We’re walking-” Scotty started, but he gargled and coughed. “Sorry, choked on spit. We’re walking on the ceiling.”

Nogla laughed. “Why?”

“Why fucking not? Jesus, can’t some dudes just pretend they’re walking on the ceiling in their own home without getting judged?” Anthony snapped. It just made Nogla laugh harder.  
“As long as you two don’t get footprints on the paint, I don’t care.” he said. He walked around the island and to the fridge, pulling out the last beer.

“What, are you fucking stupid? We’re not going to leave footprints.” Anthony said.

“Yeah, dumbass. We’ll sweep them up with our pretend broom.” Scotty followed up.

“Yeah, yeah, shut the fuck up.” Nogla said.

The room was quiet for a moment.

“You wanna walk on the ceiling too?” Anthony asked.

“Yes please.”

Nogla made his way over to the couch, and the two of them managed to scooch over without getting up so that there would be enough room for him.

“This is weird.” Nogla said. Yet, he moved his legs as if he was walking, and it made him laugh.

“You’re weird.” Scotty shot back.

“Oh, he burned you!” Anthony said, laughing.

.

.

.

“How’s it going?” Wildcat asked, coming up next to Lui.

“Eh, it’s okay. The whole basement is kinda wrecked but us boys have been working hard, haven’t we?” Lui called out. There was an intense chorus of ‘yes’s and whoops from around the large room. Wildcat shook his head fondly. Leave it up to Lui to befriend sixty guys in a few hours.

“Good. It’s almost eleven, so we’re thinking about wrapping it up and heading back to the base with those who are staying with us.” Wildcat said.

Lui wiped a dirty hand across his sweaty forehead, and it left a trail of soot on the skin there. It didn’t seem to bother him. He’d grown up in the dirt and grime, and he considered it something nostalgic to get a little filthy every once in a while. It’s why he loved being a mechanic and working on big vehicles. It let him get greasy and grimy, but now he had the opportunity to hop into a nice warm shower and wash it all off.

“Yeah. I think only ten or so of my guys are staying with us and the rest of us have houses and homes in the city.” Lui said. Wildcat nodded.

“Make your way up within the next fifteen minutes?” he asked.

“Will do. We’ll just set up our tools for tomorrow.”

Wildcat turned and headed back up the stairs towards the main floor. Lui watched him for a moment. He rolled his shoulder, feeling what was going to be a crappy ache.

“Alright, dudes!” he yelled, whipping around to face the men gathered around the giant area. “We have fifteen minutes to set this all up for tomorrow and then we’re going to bed.”

They let out yells and whoops and cheers, and then they were back to work.

.

.

.

“Yo, just got a call from Tyler. They should be heading back in a few- what the fuck are you doing?” Marcel asked.

“We’re pretending to walk on the ceiling.” Scotty said.

“Join us.” Anthony said.

“Fuck off.” Marcel said, shooting him a middle finger. The three idiots on the couch laughed but he tried to ignore them, heading to the fridge. “Are you kidding me? We’re out of beer?”

Nogla snickered before sing songing “I took the last one.” at Marcel.

Marcel spotted the beer on the ground by Nogla’s head.

“I want some of it.” Marcel said.

“You can have all of it,” Nogla started, but something in his eyes made Marcel skeptical. “But you have to walk on the ceiling with us.”

Anthony and Scotty laughed at that and nodded.

“Yep. It’s the truth.” Anthony said.

“You can have the whole beer, bro.” Scotty said.

Marcel sighed. He hated these three with all of his heart, but he loved them just as much.

“Fine, motherfuckers, move over.”

.

.

.

“So, basically, La Chrome’s dudes approached you years ago asking for you to join his gang. You said no and figured that if they could offer Cartoonz a reward that they could also threaten him, so you split up from him and did your own thing until now. And you got a call from Beard last night saying that La Chrome discovered that Del was part of the BBS because they found his profile when they hacked our system and now he want Del to join again because it’s some sort of weird ego thing.” Smitty asked, eyes wide.

Delirious and Ohm nodded.

“And we just sat here going into unnecessary details for hours when it could have just been summarized and actually made a lot clearer like that?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Ohm said.

“Pretty much.” Delirious followed up.

“So what do we do now?” Smitty asked.

“Dunno. Probably just what we’ve been doing.” Ohm said. He sighed and reached under his bandana to rub at his eyes. He was tired of all this weird plot stuff. He really just wanted to curl up with Buddy and take a nap.

“Well, we can start by getting some dinner. I’m hungry.” Delirious said, standing. They could hear his bones crack.

“That’s a good idea. I’m still thinking curry.” Smitty said.

“The person shot rule is going to have to wait when he have this many people in the house.” Ohm said. He sent Smitty an apologetic look when the boy let out a huge whine. “Sorry bud. You can have whatever you want when Nanners’ guys are back in their own base.”

“Bummer. No Wildcat shits today.” Smitty said, shaking his head. Delirious could tell that he wasn’t too disappointed.

“Alright, let’s go welcome back the troops. They should be coming back sometime soon.” Ohm said. They left Cartoonz’ room, with Ohm locking it behind them.

They wandered down the stairs and were met with the oddest sight.

“What are you doing?” Ohm asked.

“Can’t you see? They’re pretending to walk on the ceiling!” Smitty gasped, as if offended. He grabbed onto Delirious and Ohm’s hands and tugged them to the second couch. “Come on, we can do it too.”

.

.

.

Cartoonz wandered up the stairs. Wildcat had sent him ahead to make sure that the others were ready for the fucking army that was about to descend in their house for another night. It was odd that he couldn’t hear anyone moving around. Most of them should be home, including Nogla who tended to stomp, and, yet, it was almost completely silent.

He paused, staring at the sight that met him.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?”


	19. Chapter Nineteen

“Everyone’s finally in bed.” Ohm said, collapsing on the couch next to Cartoonz. “For a house full of grown men, it sure feels like some type of summer camp.”

“A really fucked up one where we’re all going to die.” Cartoonz muttered. Ohm didn’t have the energy left to hit him, so he just grunted unhappily.

There were soft footsteps coming down the stairs, prompting an even unhappier groan. His mouth snapped shut when it turned out to be Evan.

“Hey, tomorrow at noon, our allies are coming over. We’re going to have a meeting discussing which gangs are going to unite against La Chrome.” he said, voice quiet.

“Who?” Ohm asked. He tried to hold in his yawn but it escaped.

“Minx, Mark, Pewds, Satt, and Chilled.” He grinned. “And Kryoz, but don’t tell Smitty.”

“Sounds good. We’ll be ready.” Ohm said. Evan nodded.

“I’m heading to bed. Good night.” he said.

“Good night.” Ohm and Cartoonz echoed.

There was a moment while they waited, listening to Evan head upstairs until he was finally out of earshot.

“How long do you think he was knocking at Del’s door?” Cartoonz whispered. Ohm chuckled, though he still felt a little bad.

“Probably longer than we’d think.” he answered.

Ohm let his eyes drift close again. What would be the chance of him falling asleep and Cartoonz leaving him there on the couch? He was too tired to move, and could probably fall asleep right here. The thought of climbing up to the sixth floor, even if it meant he could snuggle with Buddy, sounded like torture.

“It’ll be nice to see your old crew, huh?” Cartoonz asked. His voice was low.

“Yeah. Been missing them.” Ohm muttered. “Not enough to wish to go back, though. I love the BBS too much.”

Cartoonz hummed. Ohm hoped that he didn’t look sad, but he couldn’t open his eyes to check.

Ohm wasn’t mentally prepared for the arms that scooped him up, holding him close to a sturdy chest. His mind was clouded and too far gone, so he couldn’t do anything except smile slightly in thanks. They were moving, heading up, but Ohm didn’t know which floor he was on or which room he was in when he was laid down onto a bed. The arms disappeared and Ohm felt cold, and alone, and sad.

There was an eternity of emptiness, and Ohm thought that he was going to be left in this wallowing feeling until he fell asleep, but suddenly something small was tucking itself up against him. It licked him once on the arm, circling, and then laying itself into a ball. There was more movement, and then something much bigger was climbing into bed. It radiated heat but Ohm still feld cold. He whined, and the movement stilled, and then the heat was much closer, touching him softly and pulling him close. The warmth enveloped him. He felt safe.  
His bandana was gently untied and pulled from his face. Somehow, he didn’t feel afraid at what the warmth would see.

“Thank you.” Ohm whispered, mind stilling.

The warmth chuckled, but Ohm felt it rumble more than he heard it. There was a slight, searing heat on his forehead for a split second, before it disappeared. He was glad that it tingled and lingered on his skin.

Then, he was asleep.

.

.

.

Early morning sun streaked through the windows, lighting up some of the room. It sparkled along Ryan’s hair, making the chestnut brown look more like a caramel. It didn’t matter to Luke. Ryan was always beautiful, always sparkling and glowing like he was the sun himself. But, he had to admit, and he would do so absolutely willingly, that Ryan looked particularly angelic laying there.

He could stare at Ryan forever. There was no way that he could ever get tired of it.

He reached to brush a strand of hair away from Ryan’s eyes, hand grazing his cheek. Ryan had expressed to him a few times how much he hated the faint scars around his eyes, the ones he hid from even his closest of friends. Not from Luke.

Luke thought they looked like puzzle pieces coming together to make a masterpiece. Like priceless gems that couldn’t compare to the jewels in Ryan’s eyes. Like marks of where an angel kissed him.

How he wished he could have been that angel.

The other man stirred, but Luke refused to avert his gaze. He wanted Ryan to know that he’d been staring at him. He wanted him to know that he was all Luke thought about, that Luke wanted to always be near him, to wake up every morning with Ryan in his bed, and in his arms. He was tired of them running in circles around each other. He was tired of pretending. He wouldn’t look away.

Ryan’s eyes fluttered open.

Luke looked away.

.

.

.

“Morning.” Cartoonz said.

Delirious looked up from spot on the couch, coffee in one hand and piece of toast in the other. His brother had Buddy in his arms, taking him down to the yard.

“Morning.” he said, smiling. Cartoonz liked dogs, but he’d never been attached to one. They hadn’t had one as a kid, thank god, but one of their neighbors from down the street had two pit bulls, and another had a shepherd mix. Delirious always wanted to play with them, and used to dog sit every once in a while. Cartoonz would come over to make sure Delirious didn’t accidentally break something, but he would only pet the dogs briefly, never showing much affection, and certainly never wanting to hold one. Yet, there he was, taking Buddy outside like some domesticated husband who fucking loved dogs.

Delirious watched him leave before taking another sip of his coffee and zoning back out. Apparently their allied leaders were coming over for a discussion. He was a bit worried about meeting them, but Nanners and Gassy had been super cool, so hopefully the others would be too. He recognized their names when Marcel had said them to him in passing that morning, but he’d never worked with them.

Speak of the devil. Devil? No, uh, nice person cuz Marcel was nice to him. Speak of the nice person. Marcel wandered into the room with four big Rusty Brown’s Rings boxes.

“Always like to sweeten the deal with some donuts.” Marcel explained. He moved towards the meeting room but had no hands to open the door, so Delirious leapt up to grab it for him. “Thanks.”

“No problem. How many people are coming?” Delirious asked. Marcel dropped the boxes on the table and took a step back.

“Well, Minx and her four mains,” Marcel started, counting on his fingers. “Mark and his three mains, Pewds and his two, Satt and his two, Chilled and his three, and Kryoz. That’s twenty. Plus Evan and Tyler, and Nanners and Gassy, with makes twenty four. And probably Ohm.”

“Ohm?” Delirious asked.

“Yeah. Ohm used to be in a gang with Minx, Mark, Pewds, and Pewds’ two mains, Cry and Ken. Well, Cry has his own little gang but they tend to stick with Pewds and Ken. He also knows Satt and Chilled pretty well and has helped them do some jobs, so really he’s the link between all of them and us.” Marcel said. “We all have connections, but Ohm has more, and most of them are pretty powerful and trustworthy.”

Delirious nodded.

“Oh, have you seen Brock?” Marcel asked.

“No, not since yesterday.” Delirious couldn’t help the scowl that appeared on his face. The last time he’d seen Brock, he’d abandoned him with Evan, and it had just gone downhill from there. He’d try to shake it off because he did know that Brock was a good guy and a friend.

“That’s weird. What about Brian?”

Delirious shook his head. “Nope.”

“Huh. I know they left yesterday with Craig and Bryce to go meet with a potential source, but I would’ve thought that they’d be back by now.” Marcel shrugged. “I’ll call them.”

“Okay.” Delirious said. Marcel walked out of the meeting room, already taking out his phone. Delirious closed the door, taking his seat back on the couch.

There was something weird this morning. A feeling in the air, or just a tingle on his spine, or nothing at all. Either way, he finished his toast and his coffee, and waited for someone to give him something to do.

.

.

.

“Welcome, welcome.” Jiggly said, ushering in the four men in front of him. They were the first to arrive, so he quickly brought them up to the meeting room. “I’m Jiggly. I’m primarily in charge of tech around here. Here’s the meeting room. Hey, Vanoss, Wildcat, the Derp Crew is here.”

“Hey, come on in.” Vanoss said. He reached out a hand, which Chilled, the boss of the Derp Crew, happily shook. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Please, the pleasure is all ours.” Chilled said. He had a wide smile, which one man behind him mirrored. “It’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other, but you’re not looking too different.”

“Neither are you.” Vanoss said, and they both chuckled. “This is Wildcat, my second in command. You’ve met before, but, like you’ve said, it’s been a while.”

Wildcat nodded to Chilled, and then to his three mains.

“Absolutely. These are my top three, Ze, Galm, and Smarty.” he said. The three repeated what Wildcat had done, nodding to Vanoss and then Wildcat. When the exchange ended, Chilled looked around the room and whistled. “This is a nice little room.”

“Thanks. We take a lot of pride in our base.” Vanoss said. He gestured to the chairs. “Please, take a seat. We have donuts and coffee.”

The four men grinned and cheered, choosing the seats on one side of the table. They were talking quietly amongst themselves when Jiggly led in the Pewdiepie, Ken, and Cry.

“Good to see you all again.” Vanoss said, reaching to shake each of their hands. Compared to The Derp Crew, where Chilled was their boss and the other three were his commanders, Pewdiepie and Ken shared title of gang boss, much like Nanners and Gassy. Pewdiepie was the official leader, the one who everyone knew, and Ken was the one who did a lot of behind the scenes leadership. And Cry was, within his own right, a gang boss and highly respected member of the underground.

“Thanks for having us.” Pewds said. “We’re excited to discuss a possible second take down of La Chrome.”

“If he’s even alive.” Ken muttered, but Vanoss let it pass. He was in disbelief too, but he trusted his guys, and now there was too much evidence pointing to La Chrome’s return.

Cry stayed quiet, though Vanoss knew that he’d probably be vocal by the time Minx arrived. He’d had the pleasure of being in an enclosed space with the two of them only once but, from that time, and from the stories he’d heard from Ohm, he knew that the two of them were a verbal whirlwind.

They seated themselves without being prompted, happy to chat with the Derp Crew. Vanoss and Wildcat shared a look, both trying to calm each other. Vanoss tended to have high anxiety during meetings like this. He wasn’t a huge public speaker. Wildcat just got nervous when people, especially high ranking gang bosses, were in their base. Nervous wasn’t right. Restless. He got restless and almost aggressive.

Satt and his men were next. It would be the first time that they had ever worked with the BBS, but Vanoss and Satt had met once when Ohm was coming back from a mission with Sattelizer’s gang. They shook hands, and Satt introduced him to his mains Gorilla and Swag.

The Derp Crew and Satt’s gang had done quite a few missions with each other, so they relaxed into a nice conversation. Vanoss used the wait until the next boss' arrival to check his phone. Hopefully Ohm hadn’t been caught up in something and wasn’t running late. The meeting would probably go fine without him, but it would go so much smoother if he was there. He shuddered at the thought of Minx’s reaction if Ohm didn’t show up to the meeting. The two of them weren’t on as good of terms as they could have been. She thought that he stole Ohm from them, which wasn’t a lie, and that was the reason why their original gang had fallen apart. He couldn’t blame her, considering how powerful it would have been with all of these successful bosses all in one gang.

“Yo.” Kryoz said, ducking in the room. Vanoss grinned at him. It had been a little while since Kryoz had helped them out, but he was basically a member of the BBS. All he needed was to say that he wanted it to be official and he’d be in right away. He’d told them that he wasn’t ready to settle down just yet, but to call him whenever something big was happening.

Wildcat left Vanoss’ side to do a secret handshake with Kryoz.

“Does Smit know I’m here?” Kryoz asked. Wildcat shook his head, prompting a pleased grin from the younger boy. “Cool.”

They migrated over to where Wildcat’s seat was going to be just as Jiggly led in Markiplier. He and Pewds high fived as he walked by to greet Vanoss.

“Thanks for inviting us.” Mark said as they shook hands. “We’ve heard a lot of good things about the BBS so it’ll be an honor to take down La Chrome with you.”

“It’s a honor to have you help, believe me.” Vanoss said. Mark let out a large laugh.

“Flattery will get you everywhere. These are my top boys- Jack, Wade, and Bob.” he said, gesturing to the three men behind him.

“Welcome.” Vanoss said. They smiled, following Mark to four seats next to Pewdiepie, Ken, and Cry.

Nanners and Gassy came in almost seconds after. They’d decided to keep Sark and Hutch at the base instead of bringing them with. Their minds had been made when their base had been attacked and some of their men had been killed.

All that’s left was-

“There she is.” Cry exclaimed, snickering. His response was a bubble of a laugh from the doorway. Vanoss stood a little straighter.

Minx walked into the room with the four top member of the Nom gang behind her. Every gang boss had an air of authority and power, but Minx’s left the people around her on their best behavior. She was a force to be reckoned with, as the only female gang boss in the entirety of Los Santos and the surrounding areas, and one of the oldest, though she still radiated a young and spry aura. Her gang was primarily composed of females, with a few males as well.

“Vanoss.” she said, tone hiding something dangerous. Her smile was knife sharp.

“Thanks for coming.” he said. The smile widened and her eyes narrowed.

“I’m not here for you.” she hissed so that no one but him could hear, before her voice rose back to its loud level. “You know we’d never miss out on a chance to take down a cunt like La Chrome! These are my mains, Doxy, Rits, and Sinow. And, you remember my wife, Krism, right?”

“Of course. Pleasure to see you again.” he said. Krism smiled sweetly but she was just as fatal as Minx.

They headed to their seats, leaving only two open- Vanoss’ and Ohm’s. They all seemed to notice this but no one brought it up, choosing instead to talk amongst each other for a few minutes, to give Vanoss time to prove Ohm’s loyalty to him. Each one of them wanted to confirm that the BBS wasn’t the right place for Ohm for their own personal reasons, but none of them would ever act on ‘taking him back’. Well, Minx might, but she didn’t count.

“Sorry, I’m here.” Ohm said, rushing into the room. There was a split second where everyone was a little disappointed, before they all greeted him.

“Get over here!” Minx exclaimed, patting the open seat next to her. He complied and she was so smug about it that Vanoss couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Alright, since everyone’s here, I think we can start our meeting.” Vanoss said. Anthony closed the door from the outside. Suddenly, everything was serious. This meeting could prove to be the deciding factor against La Chrome, or it could be the BBS’ death sentence. Either way, allies or not, the BBS was going after La Chrome. Vanoss just hoped that this meeting could convince them to help.

“I have a concern.” Minx said. Vanoss tried not to groan. “How will we know that our gang members and bases will be safe while we’re preparing?”

“If we stay on the downlow about who’s in this alliance, La Chrome and his allies won’t be able to know who’s a part of it. I’m also hoping with our combined powers that we’ll be able to locate his base and formulate a plan faster, and we won’t have to wait too long before an attack.” Vanoss said.

“There are eyes all over the city. Someone has seen us all come in here.” Satt said. “All it takes is the right price and each of us is revealed.”

“That includes us even if one of us rejects the alliance.” Minx said. “So we’ve potentially already put ourselves on the chopping block. I hope you have an actual plan.”

“One of Ohm’s contacts has eyes on the information system in the city. He should keep rumors of you all coming here under lock and key.” Vanoss said.

“You mean Beard? Sure, he’s powerful, but he isn’t loyal to you. For all we know, he’s connected with La Chrome too.” Ken said.

“He’s some of the worst scum. As long as he gets what he wants in the end, he’ll sell anyone out for a good stack of bills.” Minx snapped. “Besides, Beard is powerful in some aspects, but he doesn’t control every nosy twerp in Los Santos.”

“Well, to try and answer your question differently,” Vanoss said, hoping to continue the conversation off of the topic of Beard. “Some of my guys could rotate guarding your bases for an added level of protection.”

“There’s only fourteen of you. And didn’t one of them just get shot?” Krism said. Vanoss tried not to visibly wince.

“Yeah, that kid. Shot during the attack on your base, huh Nanners?” Chilled asked. Had it been anyone else, Nanners would have prickled at the comment, but he and Chilled were close and he knew that the Italian man wasn’t trying to be pointed. So he chose to nod instead of saying anything.

“So you’re down to thirteen.” Mark said, shrugging. He leaned back in his chair. “Figures why you’d call us in.”

“My guys aren’t weak. They’re some of the best and you know that.” Vanoss said. He was trying not to get frustrated, but it was proving to be difficult.

“Yeah, which is why one of them got shot.” Satt said.

“Every one of us has been shot more than once.” Vanoss said.

“Not all of us were called ‘some of the best’ when we were.” Pewds said.

“Was this the same kid who just watched that little boy die? Maybe he’s off his A-game now.” Minx asked.

“Drop it.” Ohm said, voice low. The conversation stuttered to a stop, though Minx’s grin didn’t fall from her face.

Vanoss could feel Wildcat’s stare, and he knew that his second in command was one comment away from going on a tirade, and that Kryoz must have also been biting his tongue, so he tried to move the conversation away.

“Anyways, if we could keep from insulting my men, I was hoping to talk about a potential research group composed of-” he started, only to be cut off.

“You want us to consider gifting some of our best researchers to track down La Chrome. Yeah, got it.” Satt said. “Listen, I’m going to be frank. I’m in on this whole idea, I just want to make sure that my risks aren’t too high. You have a pretty small gang, so you know what I mean when I say that I need to look out for my family before I dive into anything. How much are you willing to give up before pulling out?”

There was silence in the room. This was a vital answer, and there was no room for lying or avoiding the question. Vanoss took a deep breath.

“None of them.” he finally said.

“So you want us to give up ours in their place?” Satt asked.

“The more players on the battlefield, the less of a chance of his guys getting shot.” Minx said. Krism leaned in to whisper something in her ear, to which Minx nodded. Her smile had disappeared.

“The BBS members will be leading the charge and you know it.” Ohm said. All eyes turned to him. “ This is our idea and our fall if it comes to it. We’re not afraid of dying if we’re doing what’s right. Your members won’t have to worry about getting shot if they just keep their eyes open.”

There was a pause before Cry chuckled. “You’re one to talk about eyes open, Ohm.”

The air in the room lightened just a little bit.

“Well, fuck it then.” Minx said. “I’m in.”

Vanoss didn’t have time to react to the shock of what just happened.

“I’m in.” Satt said.

“We’re in.” Pewds said, though Ken still looked skeptical of the whole ordeal.

“You know I am.” Mark said.

“And, last but not least,” Chilled said, grinning. “I’m in.”

Vanoss looked to Wildcat and Kyroz and saw that both of them looked relieved. Kryoz looked at him and nodded.

Taking that as Kryoz’ answer, he grinned and said “Alright then. Let’s get into planning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to apologize in advance for a little lack of H2oVanoss interactions, but I promise that it'll all work out in the end. Also, this chapter and a few others coming up are some of my favorites, though I have no idea why. Hopefully you all enjoyed!


	20. Chapter Twenty

“Smitty was shot?” Kryoz asked after the others had left. It was just Evan and Tyler in the room, cleaning up some of the papers they’d used to scribble down notes. The meeting lasted around three or four hours, so Kryoz must have been holding in that question the entire time.

“Yeah, during the attack on Nanners’ base.” Tyler said. Kryoz hummed, eyebrows furrowed and biting his lip.

“It wasn’t anything horrible. He was up and walking immediately after they took the bullet out.” Evan said. Kryoz laughed.

“That doesn’t mean anything. Smit would be running around even if you cut his legs off.” he said. The other two grinned.

“If you want to go visit him, he’s probably up in his room with Delirious.” Tyler said. Both Kryoz and Evan’s heads snapped up.

“Delirious joined the gang?” Kryoz asked.

“Delirious is upstairs?” Evan asked.

“Yeah, he joined like last week or something.” Tyler said, choosing to ignore Evan. “Turned out to be a nice dude. Kinda seems more like a space case than a deadly assassin.”

“Sweet. I’m gonna go up there and visit.” Kryoz said, heading to the door.

“Yeah, I’m going to visit too.” Evan said, following after him.

Ever the quickest in the gang, Tyler grabbed his arm.

“Like hell you're leaving me to clean up here while you harass your boy toy. Come on, asshole.” he snapped. Evan just rolled his eyes but complied. So much for being the boss.

Kryoz took his time walking up. He knew the base just a well as anyone who lived there, and he had the track to Smitty's room ingrained in his head. He didn’t want to admit it, but there were butterflies in his stomach whose wings fluttered with each step closer to the fifth floor.

He didn’t bother knocking. Smitty wouldn’t fucking care. He was a little bitch sometimes, but he was Kryoz’s little bitch and Kryoz was his bitch, and they didn’t care about personal space when it came to each other.

“What the-“ he heard Smitty say, and then he spotted him, sitting on the ground across the room with Delirious. The two of them were side to side, looking down at a board game. He vaguely recognized it as one that he and Smitty had played last time that he was in the room, but, at the time, he hadn’t been paying it too much mind.

There was a second of silence where Smitty and Kryoz stared at each other. It had been too long since they’d seen each other last, but their paths just weren’t meant to cross very often. Not until Kryoz found himself walking along Smitty’s path with him, both paths becoming intertwined. But times like this were the most powerful, with both of them smashing together, energy practically sparking in the air around them. Nothing else mattered. It came down to just the two of them and their short time together.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Smitty asked. His voice cracked, but he covered it well. He was afraid and embarrassed for Kryoz to see him this way, beat up and bruised. Kryoz couldn’t have cared less.

“What? Want me to leave?” Kryoz followed up.

The ‘no’ was unspoken.

“Imma go.” Delirious said, standing and skirting around Kryoz. He must have been pretty aware, because he closed the door behind him, leaving the two of them in the room by themselves. He’d have to introduce himself later, but he had more important things to take care of.

“You’re here for the meeting?” Smitty asked.

“Yep.” he said, stepping over the board game to stand over Smitty. “They’re all in.”

“All of them?” Smitty asked.

“All of them.” Kryoz answered. Smitty nodded. “I heard from a little birdy that someone got shot. It was actually a heated part of the conversation.”

“It was? What happened?” Smitty asked, voice raising. Kryoz tried to hide his grin, squatting so that they were face to face.

“Ohm told them to shut the fuck up before I had the chance to.” he said. All of the color in Smitty’s face drained.

“Was it bad? Did they almost not agree because of it? I swear, it was just me being stupid, not the other guy’s great shot. They don’t have to worry about their guys getting hurt. I’ll tell them that. Are they still here?” Smitty rambled.

In one swift motion, Kryoz shut him up. Smitty didn’t have time to process his rude cut-off, instead leaning into the kiss. All of Smitty’s body tingled like he had been struck by lightning, and he tried not to cry. He’d missed this. He’d missed Kryoz.

They reluctantly moved apart, but not far, staring into each other’s eyes. It’d been too long. They didn’t want to get too far from each other out of fear that they wouldn’t come together again.

“Sorry. I wanted you to stop talking.” Kryoz muttered.

“I’m not complaining.” Smitty said. “Do it again?”

“I’ll do it as many times as you want.”

.

.

.

“What a time that was, huh?” Minx asked. She leaned against the car, staring up at the gray sky up. She frowned. Storms made her whole mood shift.

Krism twisted next to her, kissing the corner of her wife’s mouth. Minx’s frown morphed into a smile, and she chased Krism’s lips, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman. Krism just laughed. She let her head fall to Minx’s shoulder afterwards, Minx leaving one kiss on the top of her head before looking back up at her other mains and Ohm. She winked at Ohm, who just smiled at them.

Ohm was happy to see Minx and Krism so openly happy. They had struggled with a lot of different expectations, what with Minx being the only female gang boss in Los Santos as well as being an open and powerful lesbian, and, not to mention, from a different country.. The two of them had often bounced their insecurities and problems back and forth, always trusting each other like brother and sister. Ohm had spent many nights on the other end of the phone, either consoling or being consoled by the now smiling woman in front of him.

Something dull ached in his chest. It might have been akin to guilt but he couldn’t quite place it. The gang bosses that had come to the meeting today were all very important to him. Some were his original family, and bonds like that could never be lost. He felt horrible at the idea of sending them and their new families into a potentially deadly battle. To see Minx so happy now made that guilt wind around his heart and squeeze.

“We’ll have Ritz and Doxy back here tomorrow morning for the research team.” Minx said. Doxy and Ritz nodded from where they were standing. “I’ll meet with some of my others tonight to give them the run down. With that, we should be on our way. Shall we load up?”

Her friends nodded. Ritz clapped Ohm on the back before squeezing into the backseat with Sinow. Doxy pulled Ohm into a quick hug. The two of them had been friends in the olden days as well, and he missed her just as much as any of the others.

“Once this is all over, let’s have a calmer reunion, okay?” she asked, taking his hand.

“That sounds good.” he said. She smiled, lightly squeezing his hand once. He didn’t have time to ponder the loss of heat as Krism was already in front of him.

“It’s been too long. Don’t pull this shit again, you hear me?” Krism scolded, hands on her hips. He nodded.

“I won’t. I’m sorry.” he said. Her eyes softened.

“Oh well. What’s in the past is in the past.” She stood on her tippy toes to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “Au revoir.”

“Bye, Krism.” he said. She got into the passenger seat, letting Minx close the door behind her so that it was only Minx and Ohm standing there.

It was quiet for a moment while the two of them just relaxed in each other’s presence, just like way back when. Just like when Ohm was first starting off, and Minx had been the only reason why he had gotten anywhere in life. Back when they thought that the two of them, and Krism of course, were going to leave this whole mess behind. She had sworn to get him out before he got in too deep, but she had lost him to the BBS, and that had been her life sentence.

“You’re a bitch.” she said.

“You’re a bitch.” he shot back. She shrugged.

“You’re not wrong.” She took another slow look at the darkening sky. “When this is all over, are you-”

“Yeah.” he said. “I am.”

She took a deep breath. For a moment, it seemed like she was going to cry. Like she was going to supply the rain before the clouds could even open up. Instead, she laughed, looking at him with tired eyes.

“Figures. Just don’t fuck everything up.” she said, walking to the other side of the car.

“I won’t. I promise.” Ohm said. “Minx.”

She paused, hand on the door handle. He sighed.

“Thank you for coming today, and for deciding to help us.”

“I’m your sister, Ohm, not a monster.” she said, opening the door and getting inside. The car started and then they were gone, driving away. He watched until he couldn’t see them, finally turning and going back in the base. As soon as the door shut behind him, the first raindrop fell from the sky. It wouldn’t stop raining for almost three weeks.

.

.

.

**The Day Before**

Brock stared at the building in front of them. The sun was setting behind it, lighting up the decaying boards and dusting concrete that it was held up by.

“This is where they wanted to meet?” Craig asked.

“Yeah.” Brian said, getting out of the car. The three others shared an uneasy look before following his lead.

They moved silently towards the building’s broken front door. From the looks of it, someone had forced it open not long before, and had done their best to put it back on its hinges. Bryce gripped the glock in his pocket, tapping his finger nervously against its side. He hated stuff like this, when they had to be on top of every detail, sound, and sight around them. He was fine at it, but he just couldn’t stand the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Brock moved the door to the side so that Craig and Brian could squeeze through. When they signaled that it was all clear, Bryce and Brock climbed into the building. They found themselves in a dirty hallway with stairs to their right and a door straight ahead. With a nod from Brain, they advanced on the door, guns out. Bryce watched their backs, looking over his shoulder. It was so dark and dusty inside that he could barely see anything and yet, he felt like he had everything under control. If anyone came from upstairs, he would hear them on the stairs and the floorboards.

Brock opened the door while Brian and Craig had their guns at the ready for any potential fire.

“Come on, Brian. Yah didn’t really think we were going to fuck yah over, did yah?” came a deep voice from inside. “Ye can put the guns down.”

There was a moment where Brian seemed to consider keeping his weapon up before he finally lowered it, walking into the room. They decided to go in with him, but Bryce and Craig kept their grips on their guns, just in case. Better safe than sorry.

There were only two people inside, a man and a woman who looked quite similar to Nogla. It made sense since they were triplets, but it was still a shocker for all of them except Brian.

“It’s been a while.” the man said, smiling.

“What do you want?” Brian asked. The smile faltered but didn’t disappear.

“We want a chance to make up for what we’ve done. We figured yah and Lui would never let us meet with Daithi, so we decided to ask to meet with yah instead.” he said.

“There’s been a lot of chatter that’s made us nervous.” the woman said. “They say that Simon La Chrome is back. Is the BBS going after him?”

“Katie. I thought you were in state prison.” Brian said. Katie rolled her left shoulder.

“Got out on good behavior. Didn’t go in for gang stuff, so they didn’t know.” she said. “Are yah going after him?”

“How’s your kid, Aindreas? Boy or girl?” Brian asked, ignoring her.

“Girl.” the man said.

“What’s her name?”

“Lana.”

“Brian. Are yah going after him?” Katie asked.

“What does it matter to you?” Brian asked.

The siblings shared a look. Finally, Aindreas nodded at Katie, who reached into her bag and pulled out a manilla folder. She threw it and it skidded along the floor, stopping at Brian’s feet. He didn’t move to pick it up, eyes trained on the two of them.

“We don’t want him to die. We never did.” Aindreas said.

“You tried to kill him.” Brian said.

“Yah couldn’t possibly understand. Yah don’t get it. Yah don’t know what we were going through.” Katie snarled, but Aindreas put a hand on her shoulder and she shut her mouth.

“It doesn’t matter what happened back then. That time of our life is over. We’re done, but Daithi isn’t.” Aindreas said. “We’ve made terrible mistakes that we can never come back from, things that haunt me every night and every time that I think about how my daughter will never know the wonderful man that her uncle is.”

“We reached out to some of our old sources after almost four years of being out of the business to fill that folder with any info on La Chrome that we could get.” Katie said. “If yah’re going after La Chrome, yah’ll be in danger. He’ll be in danger. I know that yah don’t trust us. I get it, I wouldn’t trust us either. But we need to know if yah’re going after him.”

Brian took a deep breath. “We are.”

Katie nodded. “Yeah. We thought so.”

“There’s some stuff in there that might be useful. Yah might have already figured that stuff out, but, just in case, it’s there, along with a list of some of our old sources. We told them that yah might reach out to them for additional info.” Aindreas said. “It’s not a trick. It’s real.”

“I know. You two aren’t dumb enough to try and pull some shit like that.” Brian picked up the folder and dusted it off before turning to his friends. “Alright, let’s go.”

Bryce left the room first, with Craig and Brock not far behind him.

“Brian.” Aindreas called out, right before Brian could leave the room. Brock looked back and Brian nodded slightly, letting him know that he could go to the car. Brian waited until the other three had left the building until he turned back around. “This is it for us. This is our last act in the underground. There’s no more after this. I’ll just be a family man that works at a restaurant.”

“That’s good.” Brian said.

“We might go back to Ireland.” Katie said. He froze for a second before relaxing. “When we make up enough money, we might go back home.”

“Okay. What does it matter to me?” he asked, shrugging.

“If that happens, please keep taking care of him.” she said. “We know he’s annoying sometimes, but he’s our brother, and we love him. We always will love him.”

“I don’t need you to tell me to take care of him.” Brian said. “Besides, he’s a grown ass man. He can take care of himself.”

They chuckled at that.

“Yah’re right. We just get worried sometimes because we’re not there to see him.” Aindreas said.

“Though it’s probably for the best.” she followed up.

“He’s doing better than you’d think, but he really struggled there for a while. You didn’t manage to kill him, but he might as well have been dead. It took close to six months to make him smile again, but I don’t know another man who smiles and laughs more.” Brian said. The two of them looked pained, and a part of him was happy. That part of him wanted them to suffer for what they’d done to Nogla. He had trusted them wholeheartedly. They were his family. He never once did anything to hurt them, but they betrayed him.

But another part felt sorry for them. They had been used and, even though they’d seemed to have moved on with their lives, that was something that they would never forget. Nogla hadn’t once said a bad thing about either of his siblings in the years since then. He still loved them, even after all of that. So who was Brian to hate them?

“He didn’t blame you. He blamed himself for not better protecting you two. Every day he wanted to leave the base and search the city to find you, but Lui and I wouldn’t let him. We were the ones who didn’t trust you. Eventually, his life changed to put the BBS in the forefront of his mind, but he’s still never once said a bad thing about either of you.” he said.

“Yah can’t tell him that yah saw us.” Aindreas said. “Yah can’t.”

“Brain, don’t tell him.” she said.

“Aindreas, you got a picture of your daughter on hand?” Brian asked. Aindreas nodded. “Give it to me.”

Aindreas reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, fishing around in it until he pulled out a little square. He walked slowly over to Brian and handed it to him. It was a photo of a little girl in a pink dress with a big white bow in her hair. He had to admit, she was cute.

“I’m giving this to him.” Brian said. “He deserves to know what his niece looks like. He’ll love her from this picture alone, and you know that.”

“Yeah. I know.” Aindreas said.

“Okay, I’m leaving.” Brian said. “Good luck getting to Ireland, and tell the fam that I say hi.”

“Thank you, Brian.” Aindreas said.

“Don’t mention it.” he said.

Brian slid through the hole of the front door, moving it so it looked closed. He made his way to the car and got into the front seat. He started driving before he said anything, ready to leave that building and the two people still inside.

“How’d it go?” Brock asked.

“Fine.” Brian said. “You know what, Craig?”

Craig’s head popped up in the backseat. “What?”

“I’m feeling generous today. Let’s get some food and then stay at a hotel for the night.” he said.

Bryce and Craig cheered, but Brock just looked at him.

“Don’t wanna go home?” he asked, too quiet for the blabbering two in the backseat to hear.

“Not really.” Brian said.

“Well,” Brock said, reaching and intertwining his fingers with Brain’s. “They can survive without us for a night.”


	21. Chapter Twenty One

Exactly two weeks passed before the research group could find enough information to formulate a plan. 

For members of the BBS, days were spent out of the base, whether it be protecting the warehouses at the docks or helping fix up Nanners’ base with all the members of Nanners’ gang. For members of the research group, days were spent in front of blinding computer screens, searching for every scrap of information that they could find. 

The best information had come from Beard, and from the mysterious folder that Brian brought in one morning. No matter how many times they asked, Brian and the group who had disappeared with him for a night wouldn’t disclose who had given them the folder. And, to make things even weirder, Nogla seemed to have been floating on cloud nine, blabbering about someone named ‘Lana’.

So, when Wednesday morning two weeks later rolled around, Delirious figured that it was just going to be another calm day of putting around outside of Nanners’ base and keeping his eyes peeled for any suspicious persons. He loaded up in a SUV with Cartoonz, Ohm, Smitty, Kryoz, and Matt, and they drove to the base. In the past weeks, Matt had spent quite a bit of time with Delirious and Cartoonz, and they appreciated his calm demeanor and easy acceptance of their rude humor. Besides, they pretty much specialized in keeping people away from bullies.

Cartoonz yawned, rubbing his eye. Somehow he was able to stay perfectly straight on the road with no eyes to watch it.

“I don’t wanna do any work today.” Kryoz whined, rubbing his cheek against Smitty’s. Smitty tried to push him away but Kryoz latched onto him, a grin growing on his face. One hand reached under the edge of Smitty’s shirt to rub circles on the small of his back. “Smit, let’s play a game.”

“No.” Smitty said. No one from the front two rows of the car looked back at them, so it just seemed to egg Kryoz on.

“Come on.” he whined. “It’ll be fun.”

“No.” Smitty said. He’d played ‘games’ with Kryoz before, and there was no way he was gonna risk it with Delirious in the seat right in front of them.

Kryoz released him, a pout on his face. Smitty wouldn’t let it sway him. Not this time, at least.

They pulled up to Nanners’ base, which was looking much better than the weeks before. They were one of the last cars to arrive, so there were already around a hundred guys working in and outside. Cartoonz parked near the row of other cars and they all hopped out. Delirious, Smitty, Kryoz, and Matt walked inside to help while the other three walked around the perimeter. Those were their assigned jobs for the day.

“Took you guys long enough.” Marcel said, shoving a broom into Delirious’ hands and a dustpan into Matt’s. “Del, you and Matt take this room. Smit and Kryoz, you two can come and move some of the debris from one of the backrooms that no one has started yet.”

As they walked away, Delirious swore he could hear Kryoz purr something along the lines of “Oh, we’ll come alright.” but he chose to ignore it as best he could. He loved Smitty and Kryoz, and they were one of the cutest duos that he had ever met, but he would rather continue thinking of them as two cute boys and not as two sexually active young men.

Matt squatted down with the dustpan lined up so that Delirious could brush dirt into it, and then they found themselves in a comfortable rhythm. The room was not particularly large compared to the rest of the building, but the sweeping alone was going to take at least an hour. So, they tried to be efficient with their time.

Matt groaned as he stood, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The air conditioner unit had been shattered in the C4 explosion, and the large building was sweltering in the morning sun. It wasn’t actually that hot, but they were dressed in specific ‘uniforms’ and doing manual labor and it was mid April, and, shit, Delirious didn’t have to explain himself to nobody about how hot it was.

“Finally.” Delirious sighed. Matt nodded, dumping the final pan of dirt into the trash can. “Let’s go find someone and see if there’s something else they wants us to be doing.”

“Lead the way.” Matt said.

They walked down the hallway, squeezing past some other guys who were fixing the walls of one of the rooms. Gassy was standing at the corner of the hall. He was yelling orders down the stairs, hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. They silently agreed to move past him and find someone else to assign them a job.

“Yo,” Wildcat said as they came up to him. He was next to the front door, leaning against the wall and staring at the guys painting the outside of the building. Delirious hadn’t noticed too much damage to the outside, but he guessed that it wasn’t his business. “You two looking for something to do?”

“Yeah.” Delirious said. Wildcat hummed, rolling his head side to side. He thought for a moment.

“I think Marcel was saying something about clearing out some of the back rooms. We shoved a bunch of loose shit in the back to get it out of the way, but now we need to move it. Just pick one of the rooms and start taking the stuff inside out the garage door and to the dumpster.” he finally said.

“On it.” Delirious said, and Matt nodded eagerly from beside him.

They went back inside. Delirious let Matt lead the way to the back rooms, following him a few feet behind. He wasn’t entirely sure what rooms they were referring to, but he figured that he would find out soon enough.

“Oh, sorry!” Matt exclaimed. Delirious looked up to see that his ever clumsy friend had bumped into someone. He was immediately on alert in case they were going to get aggressive, but he wasn’t at all ready for who it really was.

“Don’t worry about it.” Evan said.

Delirious froze in place. He’d spent two weeks avoiding Evan, but there he was, standing there, smiling, and looking over at Delirious. Wait-

“Delirious.” Evan said, eyes softening. 

“Uh, we gotta go do some stuff.” Delirious said, pushing past Evan. “Matt, come on.”

Evan grabbed hold of his sweatshirt, tugging him back. Delirious could tell that he was frustrated, even without looking at him. He’d been trying to talk to Delirious for two weeks, but anytime he got close to him, Delirious would run off and hide somewhere. 

Did it make Delirious feel like a baby? 

Yes. 

Was he going to stop doing it? 

No, probably not.

“Listen,” Evan said. “We need to talk eventually. You can’t keep avoiding me and running away, Jon.”

“Yes I can.” Delirious muttered, but a part of him was fluttering at the fact that Evan called him Jon. In the two weeks that he’d been avoiding him, Evan hadn’t once referred to him as Jon, which was completely Delirious’ fault. But to hear him say it now made Delirious’ stomach flop in place.

“No, you really can’t.” Evan growled, spinning Delirious so that he was facing him. “We’re going to have a fucking conversation right now.”

“Hey, let him go.” Matt said, voice shaking. “If he doesn’t want to talk to you, then he doesn’t have to.”

“This isn’t your business.” Evan said.

“Delirious is my friend, so it is.” Matt snapped.

“Yeah, well he’s my-” Evan cut himself off, taking in a deep breath. His grip on Delirious loosened enough that Delirious could take a step back.

They were silent, watching each other. Delirious didn’t trust himself to speak. He felt too overwhelmed. Everywhere where Evan touched him burned in a scarily nice way. Part of him wanted to feel that heat on every inch of his skin, but another couldn’t stand it.

Evan’s phone rung in his pocket, startling them. He didn’t move to pick it up.

“You should take that.” Delirious said.

“Should I?” Evan challenged. He voice had an almost dangerous edge to it, but Delirious wasn’t going to deal with that right now. 

“It could be important.” Delirious said.

“You’re important.” Evan whispered. When Delirious said nothing, he sighed and fished the phone out of his pocket. He pushed past Matt and headed down the hallway, already speaking with whoever was on the other end.

“Well, that was eventful.” Matt said. Delirious couldn’t help but agree.

They somehow found one of the rooms and started cleaning it out. Delirious wasn’t mentally present. He felt distracted and confused. Evan didn’t make sense. They both knew that Evan hadn’t meant to do all of those things, and that it had been on big mistake. There was no reason for him to have to say it out loud and embarrass both of them. So he wasn’t sure what the boss felt the dire need to say to him.

“Del,” Cartoonz said, poking his head into the room just as Delirious and Matt had been lifting the tattered remains of a couch. “We’re going back to the base.”

“All of us?” Delirious asked, lowering the couch. Matt checked his watch.

“It’s not even three yet.” he said.

“There’s been developments. We all need to be secured in the base and waiting for orders asap.” 

That’s all he said, but it was enough. The research team must have formulated a plan. 

Delirious clenched his fist, following Matt out to the car.

They were finally going to go after La Chrome.

.

.

.

“You think this is the right way to go about this?” Satt asked. “After all, there seem to be a lot of variables that need to be just right in order for this to work.”

“I don’t know. That’s why I called you all here, to see what you guys think.” Evan said.

“What are you feeling?” Mark quietly asked his guys. 

“I don’t know. Like Satt said, there’s a lot that could go wrong. Especially if we’re up against the suspected fifteen hundred guys he has working for him.” Bob said.

“But if it all works out, it would be the end of La Chrome.” Jack pointed out. “It’s a big if, but it might be worth any risks.”

“In the end it’s not up to us.” Wade said, shrugging. “You’re the boss, somehow.”

Mark nudged him in the arm, happy that, as usual, Wade had acted as somewhat of a comic relief for them. He cleared his throat, looking out over the group.

“You’re thinking that we’d attack in three days?” he asked. Evan nodded.

“We have to. A source informed us that they’re planning on sending out a ship with close to eighty young women and children on it in four.” he said.

There was a frustrated rumble as each of them thought it over. They had to save those people, but could they possibly be ready within three days?

“Will we have supplies and squadrons ready by then?” Ken asked. “I know that the BBS is used to having plentiful amounts for its members, but supplying almost seven hundred people for a raid is going to be near impossible with only three days to prepare.”

“Actually, it’s exactly seven hundred people.” Gassy said. “And that’s counting all of the doctors, technicians, and only non-assault members of our combined gangs. Each of us have people that won’t be going into the fight zone, so that’s less people to worry about giving guns and bullets.”

“We have a barge coming into the docks tomorrow. It’s loaded with weapons, bullets, and other supplies.” Nanners said. “I called in an old favor, so it should be stocked up for us.”

“How do we plan on organizing the squadrons?” Galm asked.

“If we’re sent in gang formations, there’s a higher chance of us smaller gangs losing a lot of our people.” Sinow said. 

“We can’t afford to lose many of our guys, and we sure as hell don’t want to lose any.” Dracula said. 

“We can’t either.” Ze said.

“We could do mixed groups, with people from different gangs.” Doxy suggested.

“But our members are so used to the trust and communication they have with their own gang. It’ll be hard to have clear communication if we don’t know the people we’re trusting our lives with.” Cry said. The group seemed to agree, but there wasn’t a clear option. 

“How many entry points did you want breached?” Ritz asked.

“Eight.” Evan said, checking the blueprints of La Chrome’s base and nodding when he confirmed it. “Yeah, eight.”

“And how many did you want covered?” Ritz asked.

“The same eight, along with both Mission Controls.” Evan said.

“Then we’ll need eight attack teams and ten defense, along with additional support at a far enough distance away that they have an easy retreat, but close enough that they can retrieve injured.” Ritz said. Minx nodded.

“Do we have a count on how many we have for attack and defense and how many for support?” she asked.

Wildcat quickly scrolled on his phone.

“Three hundred and forty eight for attack and defense. Ninety six for support.” he said. “Two hundred and fifty six of us aren’t specialized in those and will need to be back at bases. We have approximately twenty five that can man the control centers, based on each of your suggestions.” 

“Only three fifty?” Chilled exclaimed, rubbing at his forehead. “How big did you say his base was?”

“Roughly two square miles, give or take.” Evan said.

“But most of it is underground, right?” Pewds asked. Evan nodded. “Then why don’t we just bomb the place?”

“A majority of it is underwater.” Doxy said.

“Even better.” Pewds said. “Drown ‘em.”

“We can’t just bomb the ocean, especially since the women and children are inside. It has unforeseen consequences.” Galm said.

“Bombing is out.” Evan said. “We have to go in there and take them down. We can’t let La Chrome get away again.”

The group nodded. Their number one priority was taking down La Chrome and getting the women and children back to their homes. Complete destruction of the base and all of La Chrome’s gang was less important.

“Alright, so we need to assign leaders for squadrons and support teams, right?” Ohm asked. “Should we focus on that for now?”

“Yeah,” Evan said. “Let’s hurry. We don’t have much time.”

.

.

.

“We will have eighteen attack and defense squads,” Evan said, looking out on the members of the BBS. They were all seated in the living room and kitchen, looking out at their leader. 

Delirious had to admit that, even after all of this nonsense, Evan still seemed to sparkle whenever Delirious looked at him. He looked more tired than when they were in the hallway earlier, but he had an almost excited energy bursting from him. 

Delirious heart pounded in his chest.

“Eight attack teams, and ten defense squads. Squads one through eight are attack, and squads nine through eighteen are defense. I’m listing off the squad by leader and then if any of us are in that squad. Understood?” Evan asked. There was a wave of affirmative answers and then he started. “A-Team 1: Leader is myself. A-Team 2: Leader is Sattelizer, and Bryce is a fighter. A-Team 3: Leader is Markiplier, and Cartoonz is a fighter. A-Team 4: Leader is Krism, and Delirious is a fighter. A-Team 5: Leader is Minx, and Brian is a fighter. A-Team 6: Leader is Craig. A-Team 7: Leader is Tyler. A-Team 8: Leader is Pewdiepie, and Kryoz is a fighter. Those were the attack teams. Here’s defense. D-Team 9: Leader is Ohm. D-Team 10: Leader is Nanners. D-Team 11: Leader is Ze. D-Team 12: Leader is Hutch. D-Team 13: Leader is Gassy. D-Team 14: Leader is Sark. D-Team 15: Leader is Jack. D-Team 16: Leader is Cry, and Brock is a defender. D-Team 17: Leader is Chilled, and Nogla is a defender. Finally, D-Team 18: Leader is Wade, and Scotty is a defender.”

“Wait, what about me?” Smitty asked. “I think you forgot to say my name.”

“I didn’t forget you. You’re just not on one of the defense or attack teams.” Evan said. Smitty squawked in offense.

“Why not?” he asked. Kryoz reached to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but Smitty shrugged it off.

“You were shot a few weeks ago, Smitty. I made the executive decision to keep you out of the line of fire until you’re back to one hundred percent.” 

“I’m at one hundred percent.” Smitty said. “I promise. I’m even better than that! I’m at, like, one hundred and fifty percent!”

“This decision is final, Smitty. We’re making you a member of Mission Control instead.” Evan said.

“Mission Control? But I can’t do any of that stuff.” Smitty said.

“It’s either that, or staying here. There’s no other option.” Evan said.

“Mission Control sounds great.” Smitty grumbled, sinking into his seat. Delirious tried to send him a nice look, but Smitty didn’t move his focus from the wall beside Evan’s head.

“With that, let’s talk about Mission Control.” Evan said. “We’ll have twenty five people running Mission Control from two different locations. Squads seventeen and eighteen will be defending those locations, meaning, for us, Scotty and Nogla.”

Scotty and Nogla, both looking slightly disappointed, nodded. Evan acknowledged them with a quick glance, but they all knew that the decisions weren’t entirely up to him. 

“Control One will have the main members of Mission Control. There will be ten people there. They are in charge of the attack and defense teams. The only contact via earpieces for members of attack and defense teams will be between members of said team or the assigned Mission Control reps. Control Two will be in charge of support teams and backup should anything happen Control One. We only have members in Control One, so I’m not going to bother reading Control Two.” Evan said. The group chuckled. “Control One consists of, in no particular order, Galm from the Derp Crew, Anthony from the BBS, Sinow from the Nom Gang, Ritz from the Nom Gang, Gorilla from Satt’s Gang, Slam from Nanners’ Gang, Bob from Mark’s Gang, Matt from Nanners’ Gang, Marcel from the BBS, and Smitty from the BBS.”

Marcel and Anthony looked to each other and smiled. Smitty seemed to perk up a little at the knowledge that there would be other BBS members there as well, and that he wouldn’t be sitting in the control room without anyone he knew. Besides, he would be one of the only people who could contact anyone during the battle. That had a sort of power in it that eased the disappointment settling in his chest.

“As for the remaining two of us,” Evan said, jokingly looking at Droidd, who had arrived at the gang less than an hour before, and Lui. “We’ll be members of the support team. Droidd is the captain of the medical unit and Lui is captain of the overall support unit.” Lui flushed a bright red as the men around him hooted and hollered, patting him heavily on the back. “Lui, you’ll be managing a position from our retreat point, but I don’t expect that we’ll have to retreat. You and about half of the support team will move in to evacuate the eighty women and children out of the building.”

“So, what’s the overall plan?” Kryoz asked. A heavy sentiment of confusion passed through the group as they all voiced their own questions, but Evan shut them up with a quick wave of his hand.

“Alright, pay attention.” he said, scrolling on his phone to reach what must have been a master list of everything that was going to happen. “A-Teams 1-8 will advance on the eight set entry points on eight different sides of the above ground part of the building. Each one of those teams will be partnered with a defense team, 1 with 9, 2 with 10, 3 with 11, and so on. Based on the locations of the teams, you may either be going upstairs, or down into the rest of the base. Defense teams will either cover their initial entry point, the access to the up or downstairs that their paired attack team has just split from, or, in the case of D-Team 15, a long underground hallway that leads to their garage.

“Only A-Teams 2 and 3 will be heading upstairs. Their aim is to smoke out any threats down to the D-Teams or to eliminate them on site. We can’t have any chances of them bombing the building above the remaining teams or pinning us in the underground, so it’s essential that they get their job done quickly. We’re betting on their success for the safety of the remaining teams. As soon as the upstairs has been secured, A-Team 2 will head to the underground and A-Team 3 will wrap around to the garage that hopefully will have been secured for them.

“A-Team 5 will be aiming to reach the women and children being held in one of the innermost rooms of the underground section of the base. We’ve attempted to plan a route that will take them as steadily towards the room while meeting as few threats as possible, but there’s no way to know. If everything goes right, A-Team 5 will lead the women and children to the garage where A-Team 2 and D-Team 15 are waiting to evacuate them with help from some of our support team.

“The rest of the A-Teams will engage in what we’re calling the A.D.S.K. maneuver, though it’s not really much of a maneuver. A.D.S.K., or Attempt to Detain or Shoot to Kill. There isn’t a single person in this room that I’m not confident can follow through with either one of those options. This is Simon La Chrome and his gang that we’re up against. They have been smuggling guns and weapons into Los Santos and victims out for years. They deserve only the mercy that they were willing to give, and we’ve seen exactly how little mercy that is. In the moment, we each have to remember that it is either us or them, and we are better shots.

“More information will come as we get closer to the attack but, for now, do we all understand?” he asked. Most members of the group nodded. “Okay, good.”

“So, when is this all going down?” Cartoonz asked. 

“Three days from now.” Evan said, and he grinned at the splutters of outrage and confusion that came from them. “I guess you should all get your asses up and start moving then.”


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

“This is ridiculous.” Cartoonz groaned, leaning back in his chair. He ran a hand through his hair, frowning at its length. It seemed that he had forgotten to get in trimmed in the past few weeks. Once this was all over, he’d have to get on that.

“Only twelve more hours.” Ohm said, smiling softly at him. “I can finish this if you want to get a little extra sleep.”

“Well in that case,” Cartoonz said, pretending to push himself up from his chair but moving quickly to instead bop Ohm lightly on the nose. “Of course not, bitch. There’s no way I’m going to ditch you for sleep.”

“I figured.” Ohm said. His attention drifted back to the papers in front of them. They were all of the medical records for each of the members of the seven gangs going into battle in the morning. They two of them had been appointed to organize them by squad and distribute them to the medical team in case of any injury that might require caution. It had been close to four hours since they had started the project, and, while Ohm was grateful for Cartoonz’ want to help, he was tired of the man’s griping.

Thankfully, Cartoonz fell quiet. They spent another thirty minutes or so finishing it all, but, finally, Ohm slid the final document in its pile and crossed off the final name, and they let out a small cheer. Most of the others had tucked themselves away to sleep or collect their thoughts before the looming battle, so they were careful to remain quiet.

“I’m so glad that we finished that.” Ohm said, standing. Cartoonz nodded, silently following him out of the room. “Thanks for the help.”

“Of course.” Cartoonz muttered.

“Well, I’m heading up to bed.” Ohm said. “Try to get some sleep, okay?”

He turned to head up the stairs to his room, but Cartoonz stopped him by grabbing a fistfull of the back Ohm’s sweatshirt.

“Come with me.” Cartoonz said, voice nearly silent. Ohm froze.

“Sorry, what?” Ohm asked, turning to face him. The grip loosened from the back, instead transfering to his left side. Cartoonz took a sturdy step forward so that he was peering down at Ohm through half-lidded eyes.

“Come with me. Just for tonight.” Cartoonz said.

“Why?” Ohm asked.

For a split second, it seemed like he wasn’t going to answer. Ohm feared, somewhere deep inside himself, that Cartoonz would say it was a joke. That he would let go of his sweatshirt and jokingly push him away, as if it was Ohm who was acting weird. That Ohm would go to bed confused and alone.

“Because I’m afraid.” Cartoonz whispered, voice cracking. “I don’t want any of us to get hurt. For the past two nights, I’ve had nightmares where Delirious gets shot, or I get shot, or-” He paused, taking in a deep breath. “Or you get shot.”

Ohm grabbed onto Cartoonz’ hand, squeezing it until Cartoonz looked him in the eye. He tried to smile.

“Let’s go then.” Ohm said.

They headed to Cartoonz’ room. Ohm pushed the door shut behind him, happy that Buddy was up in Smitty’s room with the younger boy and that Ohm had already taken him out a few hours before.

The room was dark. Ohm couldn’t count the number of times he’d been inside, but the air felt different. There was a feeling of no return, as if it would be his last time inside. And, after what Cartoonz had said, his chest tightened in fear that tomorrow would be the end for him.

He whirled around to face Cartoonz, who had stayed uncharacteristically quiet. It was now or never.

“Luke, kis-” Ryan started, but Luke was already on him.

Their lips pressed together in a charged frenzy, sending shockwaves of heat coursing through his veins. The room lit up, lights blinding him until he finally closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss. Luke wrapped strong arms around him as if Ryan was going to disappear. It felt so cliche in every way, but it felt so much like them that Ryan couldn’t help but smile. His throat was tight. Tears threatened to push past his eyes, but he held them in. It wasn’t time for tears.

They split apart, and Luke looked down at Ryan, heart swelling. He didn’t want tomorrow to come. He wanted to keep Ryan forever in his arms, and to kiss him until they were both gasping for air. He couldn’t give this up now.

“We’re going to get through this.” Ryan said, voice breaking the quiet but dancing through the air like fairies. “Luke, we have to get through this.”

Luke nodded, leaning in to press his forehead against Ryan’s. “But let’s not think about that now. It’s just me and you.”

“Yeah.” Ryan said, voice soft. “You’re right.”

.

.

.

“Cheers to one last night of our lives as we know them.” Marcel said, clinking his bottle against Scotty and Anthony’s.

“Cheers.” they echoed.

The night was silent. It was almost eerie sitting up on the roof and looking out on their side of the city. The stars were out, twinkling overhead. Marcel tried to focus on them, doing anything to keep his mind off of the morning, but he found his attention straying.

Good thing Scotty and Anthony were there.

“I’m telling you,” Scotty said. “There’s nothing better than a nice soak in a bath. You get a bath bomb or some salts, you turn off the overhead lights, take out a candle, and just chill.”

“Not all of us can afford a bath bomb.” Anthony mocked. Scotty spluttered, trying not to laugh.

“Fuck you, we literally have the same salary.”

“Yeah, but bath bombs are fucking expensive, dude.”

Marcel chuckled at them. He loved his friends, so maybe that was why he was dreading the morning so much. It wasn’t like he was going into battle, and Anthony wasn’t, and, actually, neither was Scotty, so why were they worried? But, still, the BBS was his family and his home. It had been a while since they had been up against something so terrifying. Even a two hundred person force couldn’t insure that each of them would come home safely. He was terrified that one of them was going to go off in the morning and that he’d never see them again.

Or that he’d see them lying in a coffin.

“All I’m saying is the thought of sitting in my own filth pond does not sound relaxing or cleansing.” Anthony said. He grunted as he pushed himself into a standing position. “Y’all want another beer?”

“I do.” Scotty said. Marcel tilted his own close-to-empty bottle in Anthony’s direction, who nodded knowingly back to him.

Anthony disappeared down the stairs and into the base, leaving Scotty and Marcel alone.

“Did you call Simone?” Scotty asked, laying back. Marcel glanced over at him.

“Yeah, maybe an hour or two ago. I didn’t tell her any of the details, just that it’s going to be big.”

Scotty hummed, eyes drifting shut. If it was any other time, and if Marcel was in any other mood, he would have reached over and jabbed Scotty in the side, just to hear what noise he would make. He didn’t have the energy.

“Do you have a feeling that something is gonna go wrong?” Marcel muttered. He was suddenly cold in the night air. Maybe he should go to his room and grab a jacket.

“I always have a feeling that something is going to go wrong.” Scotty joked. Marcel huffed. “But I get what you mean. We’ve done some crazy stuff, but this is, by far, the craziest. At least we won’t be in the line of fire.”

“Yeah.” Marcel said. “You’re right.”

.

.

.

“Aw, are you mad that I’m in an attack team and you’re not?” Brian mocked against Brock’s lips. The other man growled, pressing himself harder against his husband. It proved to just encourage Brian more. “Is little Brocky jealous?”

“I’m not jealous, Brian.” Brock snapped, leaning away. At the loss of connection, Brian whined. He silenced with one watery look from Brock. It was a major boner killer, but he was a self proclaimed good husband and he would listen to his husband instead of bending him over their table. Damn, he was fucking whipped, but, hey, there was nothing wrong with that.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Brian asked, brushing his fingertips softly along Brock’s side. It always calmed him down.

“I’m afraid.” Brock whispered, and Brian could tell that he was on the verge of tears. God, Brian hated to see Brock cry, especially since he looked so beautiful doing it. “What if someone gets hurt tomorrow? What if you get hurt tomorrow?”

“I’m not going to get hurt. Don’t worry about that.” Brian said. “You know that every member of the BBS is tough, Brock. We’re not going to go down without a fight.”

“I know. But what if they give us the fight that takes us down?” Brock asked. The tears finally came with one big sob, and Brock’s forehead fell to Brian’s shoulder. Brian rubbed his back, shushing him quietly.

It took a few minutes for Brock to calm down, leaving him hiccuping softly. Brian didn’t want to leave him, but he knew that he would benefit from a big glass of water, so he carefully moved Brock to the bed.

“Sit here for a sec.” he said.

Brock was grateful for the water when he did bring it back. He chugged the whole thing, handing the cup to Brian, who set it on the bedside table before rejoining Brock on their bed. He took Brock into his arms, holding him tight against him, and, somehow, managed to pull their comforter over them without jostling Brock too much.

“Sleep now, baby. We’ll get through this.” Brian said.

“But what if this is it?” Brock asked. “What if tomorrow is the end?”

“It’s not. There will be many more mornings.” Brian said. He gently kissed to the top of Brock’s head. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Brock muttered into his chest.

The room was silent for so long that Brian was convinced that Brock had fallen asleep. He had just closed his eyes when Brock spoke up again, voice rumbling against Brian’s skin.

“I think that Del and Evan need to man up and talk about their feelings before everything goes wrong.” Brock mumbled. Brian snorted, tilting Brock’s head so he could press a quick kiss to his lips.

“Yeah.” he said, smiling down at the love of his life. “You’re right.”

.

.

.

“You’re dumb.” Smitty said, throwing open the door to Delirious’ room.

“Hi to you too.” Delirious said, looking up from his phone. “I thought you were cuddling with Kryoz.”

“Matt told me what happened.” Smitty said. He plopped down onto Delirious’ bed, looking expectantly at the other man. “I can’t believe you’re still refusing to talk to Evan.”

Delirious rolled his eyes.

“It really shouldn’t matter to anyone what I do and don’t do.” Delirious said. “Go kiss your boyfriend, nerd.”

“Only if you go to yours.” Smitty shot back.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“He would be if you let him talk to you.”

Delirious flipped him off, rolling over to face away. He was fully aware that Evan did not think of him like that. He just couldn’t understand why everyone else couldn’t hop off his dick.

“You are such a child.” Smitty sighed.

“Said the literal kid.”

“I am twenty years old.”

“I know. Kryoz is basically a cradle robber.”

“He’s only twenty four!” Smitty exclaimed, but Delirious could tell that he’d wanted to laugh at that. “Listen, I get that you’re afraid, but consider seeking him out tonight. It might be best if you both head into tomorrow with clear heads.”

“My head is so clear, it’s basically a window.” Delirious said. He could practically feel Smitty’s eye roll.

“Oh yeah, I forgot that you _didn’t have a brain_.”

“Go suck Kryoz’ dick.”

“Already did. I milked him.”

Delirious spluttered, sitting upright and shoving the snickering boy off of his bed.

“What the fuck, dude? I did not need to know that!” he yelled.

“Hey, you asked.”

“I just did not.” Delirious grumbled.

Smitty shrugged, pushing himself off the ground. He dusted off his pants, though Delirious was sure that there was nothing on them, and headed to the door.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to talk to him?” Smitty asked, looking back at him.

“He has more important things to worry about right now.” Delirious said.

“Yeah.” Smitty said, sticking his tongue out at Delirious even though he knew that he couldn’t see him. “You’re right.”

.

.

.

“And why, exactly, can’t I go talk to Delirious right now?” Evan asked, leaning back in his chair.

“Because you freak him out.” Tyler snapped. Craig nodded from his seat in Tyler’s lap, and Evan didn’t have the heart to tell him to fuck off, so he told Tyler instead. His friend just laughed at him. “Listen, dickbag, you’ve never been particularly soft. When you went to talk to him, you probably got him all nervous. For the past three weeks you’ve been following him around like a lost puppy, but he doesn’t know you well enough yet to understand that. Instead, he probably thinks you’re going to kick him out or something.”

“Why would I ever kick him out?” Evan asked, dumbfounded. Craig and Tyler shared a look, before Craig sighed, scooting out of Tyler’s lap.

“Evan, you kissed him while you weren’t one hundred percent yourself. He knows that. And, while you know that it doesn’t change your attraction to him, he doesn’t. Besides, you know that you’re not straight but he sure doesn’t. The idea of you kissing him and turning out to be straight might be mortifying for him. Depending on the person, the straight guy in said equation might take out his anger on the gay one, even if the gay one didn’t do anything.” Craig said. “Does that make any sense?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Evan said. He took a deep breath. “No, it makes sense.”

“Okay. Just be gentle with him. It’s been years since he’s even had a companion, and now he’s part of a gang and has a gang boss making mushy eyed signals at him. He’s probably just a little overwhelmed.” Craig said.

“Not to mention that kid at the docks.” Tyler pointed out. Evan nodded.

He’d hated that night. It might have been the moment he realized that he was actually interested in Delirious as more than just a friend. When he rushed out into the night air, with the coppery smell of blood meeting the salt of the sea, and looked down the dock at Delirious’ silhouette, he was immediately met with a desperate need to make sure that he was okay. Delirious and Smitty hadn’t even noticed that he’d walked up to them. Not until he finally said something after minutes of standing there. And when he watched Delirious cry, his heart nearly split in two.

He couldn’t quite comprehend the magnetic feeling that was dragging him to Delirious. He’d never felt anything like it, and he wondered if this was what Brock and Brian had felt, or if it was what Tyler and Craig had felt, or if was what Luke and Ohm were feeling. It made sense why Delirious would be intimidated by him. He was intimidated by his own wave of emotions every time he thought of the other man.

“He’s daydreaming.” Craig whispered.

“Yeah. Lovesick idiot.” Tyler said. He’d never seen Evan like this, and it was somewhat amusing.

“I bet he’s thinking about Delirious.” Craig said. Tyler shook his head.

“Nah, I bet he’s just being dumb.” Tyler said.

“Yeah.” Craig rolled his eyes. “You’re right.”

.

.

.

“You think we’ll actually take down La Chrome tomorrow?” Lui asked. Bryce looked up from where he was laying on the ground and skimming through a novel. Nogla didn’t even react.  
“What do you mean?” Bryce asked. He rolled from his stomach to his back, not bothering to stuff his bookmark between the pages before closing the novel. “You think we won’t?”

“I don’t know. I just have a nasty feeling.” Lui said.

“You’ve had one the whole time, even before we found out it was La Chrome.” Nogla said. Lui nodded.

“Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe I’m just overreacting.” he said. “I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be shot at tomorrow.”

“Just because you’re not the one going into the base doesn’t mean that tomorrow isn’t going to be dangerous for you, Lui. You’re allowed to feel anxious.” Nogla said. He reached over to take Lui’s hand.

“You are the support captain, and the one in charge of getting the women and children away from the base. That’s not a stress free job.” Bryce said.

“I guess so.” Lui shrugged. “I’d feel so much better if I could be with some of you guys.”

“You’ll be with us afterwards.” Nogla said.

“Yeah.” Lui said. “You’re right.”


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

“Delirious, right?” a woman asked, coming up to him. Compared to the others around them, she held herself with a certain power, eyes sharply watching everything around them, shoulders raised and head held high. She was shorter than him, but she almost seemed to reach the sky.

“Uh, yeah.” he answered. She grinned, and, in that moment, he realized that one of her irises was red.

“I’m Krism.” she said, jutting out a hand. “I’m the captain of A-Team 4.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m looking forward to working under you for today.” he said, shaking the hand.

“You don’t need to be so formal. We’ve both been in the business a long time, we can afford to be a little loose today.”

Delirious smiled at that, which seemed to be what she was looking for. He didn’t want to think about the scowl that had probably been on his face all morning.

“We were told to appoint a second in command in case something goes wrong. I’m not planning on going down, because my wife would die if she had to do all the work that I do for her, but I was hoping that I could give you that title.” she said.

“If you think that I’m good enough for it.” he said. She shrugged.

“I’m sure you’ll be great.” She turned to look back over the room where A-Team 4 was getting ready. He wondered if she was worried about her wife, or the plan, or about the battle, but she huffed a laugh to herself and he figured that she was fine.

“You already got your earpiece, right?” he asked. She nodded.

“Yep. Who’s our MC rep?”

“Uh, I think his name is Ratz.”

Krism’s face seemed to light up.

“Ritz. He’s one of mine.” she explained. “A good friend of my wife. He’s like a brother.”

“That must be reassuring.”

“I guess so. Not for you.” she said. He laughed.

“I don’t think anyone would be particularly reassuring for me. The members of the BBS kinda terrify me, and the only member of Mission Control who I’m close with would most definitely be an annoying rep.”

“Wow, okay. Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Smitty said, appearing behind Delirious. He wished that he could say that he didn’t jump, but he most definitely did.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at Mission Control?” Delirious asked.

“I’m trying to find Kryoz.” he said. At Delirious’ knowing look, he quickly stuttered out his denial. “No, no, no, not like that. Vanoss wanted to make sure that he was comfortable on an A-Team or if he would rather switch out with either Marcel, Nogla, or Scotty. I don’t know what room A-Team 8 is in so I’ve just been bopping around.”

“You know that he’s not gonna switch.” Delirious said. Smitty grinned at him.

“That’s what I said, but Vanoss insisted. I think that he just wanted me to run off some steam before this whole thing starts.” he said. Delirious nodded, chuckling. “Well, just in case he was serious, I better go find Kryoz. See you later.”

“See you later.” Delirious said, watching as Smitty turned to walked away. His movements froze, and he seemed to think for a moment before whipping back around and throwing himself at Delirious. The older man hadn’t been expecting it, but he was quick to wrap his arms around Smitty.

“Please be safe.” Smitty whispered into Delirious’ shoulder. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Me? Stupid? Never.” Delirious joked, but he squeezed Smitty lightly to reassure him that he was going to be fine.

“I wish I could take some of those murderers down. They deserve everything that happens to them today.” Smitty hissed. Delirious felt his blood boil a little with the same sentiment, and he figured that it was time for both of them to calm down.

“They will, Smit. We’ll avenge Nasio.”

“We’ll never be able to avenge Nasio,” Smitty said, pulling back. Delirious was surprise to see red rimmed eyes paired with a bright grin. “But today is going to feel pretty fucking good.”

Delirious smiled, ruffling Smitty’s hair. He laughed and turned, weaving through the other members of A-Team 4 before disappearing from the room. Delirious felt cold.

“Thirty minutes ‘till we load up, so let’s get into our gear.” Krism announced. The others rumbled in acknowledgement, moving to the areas where they had set up their gear earlier in the morning. As she passed him, Krism smacked him once on the back, a smirk on her face. He didn’t have time to ponder what it meant, so he just decided to get prepped and forget about it.

Delirious pulled on his bulletproof vest, not caring enough to put it under his sweatshirt. They would know that he was prepared. It wasn’t worth it to even pretend. Today wasn’t a day for charades or uncertainties. Everything had to go just right or the lives of the three hundred and fifty gang members breaching the base, the eighty women and children, and ninety six support members could all be in danger, not to mention the remaining members of the gangs as well as all of the families of all involved.

He grabbed his assault rifle and pistol, along with the clips that went along with them. His earpiece was next, and they all made sure that they were connected to each other as well as Ritz, who was already at Mission Control. Delirious could feel his mind wandering, part of him wishing that he knew if Smitty had found Kryoz and made it to Mission Control, but he focused back on the present. Remember, everything had to go just right.

“We’re loading up. It’s seven to a van so we’re taking three. Ziegs, Russ, and Kiwo, you three drive us. We’ll park roughly sixty meters from our breach point and wait until all teams are in position to advance. Keep going no matter what happens and remember to contact Mission Control if anything happens.” Krism said to the silent group. Two women and a man nodded when she looked at them, seemingly the ones that would be driving the group. “Alright. Let’s do this then.”

As they made their way to the trucks, Delirious spotted Cartoonz loading into a van. They made brief eye contact, and Delirious felt a shock run through his body. That could possibly be the last time he would ever see his brother. He shook his head as if to clear those thoughts. There was no way that Cartoonz would leave his mess of a little brother to fend for himself.

His grip on the assault rifle tightened as they pulled out of the driveway and started down the street. He tried not to think about where they were going, letting his eyes drift shut. The rock and sway of the truck made his stomach churn, and, every few seconds, the shoulder of the person next to him would graze his own. He needed his mind to go somewhere else or it was possible that he would go crazy before they reached La Chrome’s base.

So he pretended that he was in Evan’s car, zooming down the street and acting like there was nothing in the world that was wrong. It was almost nice to think that he was on his way to get a burrito. What he wouldn’t give to go back just a few weeks.

 _“Check one, two.”_ came a man’s voice in his ear. _“A-Team 4, hold up a pointer finger if you can hear me. If there’s anyone in your van who is not holding up a finger, tell me now.”_

Delirious opened his eyes and stuck up his finger. Everyone in the van, even the women driving, had a finger up, and most of them were looking expectantly at him.

 _“Ritz, we have one in here that can hear you but you’re cutting out with every other word.”_ Krism said.

“Alright, read me the pin number on it.” Ritz said.

 _“4-1-1-5-9.”_ she said, after a brief silence. For a moment, there was a slight buzzing noise coming from Delirious’ own earpiece, and then nothing.

 _“Alright, how does it sound now?”_ Ritz asked.

 _“Better but not perfect.”_ came a quiet voice.

_“As long as you can hear me and the people in your team, you should be fine. There’s only so much we can do from Mission Control. It’s working for everyone else?”_

_“All good in our van.”_ someone said. The expectant stares stayed trained on Delirious, and he was almost getting frustrated and close to snapping at them to keep their eyes to themselves before he realized that they wanted him to respond on their behalf.

 _“Uh, all good here.”_ he said, pressing the earpiece. The people glanced away.

 _“Awesome.”_ Ritz said. “You guys should arrive within the next ten minutes. Give the others some time to get to their points before I give you the go ahead. D-Team 12 should be right behind you.”

_“Thanks Ritz. Alright team, listen up. I know that you’ve all gotten the basic run down from your gang bosses, but I’m going to go over our specific details. Our breach point is at the end of a large hallway on the eastern side of the building. To our left will be a set of double doors leading to a conference room roughly half the size of a football field. Upon initial breach, D-Team 12 is going to secure our backs and the other end of the hallway. We’re going to enter the conference room and take care of anyone inside._

_“After that, we’re heading down the hallway. According to the blueprints we received from our apparently trustworthy anonymous source, we should reach a staircase leading down. From there, we are to follow the A.D.S.K. procedure and insure that A-Team 5 can get the women and children to the garage and the waiting support team. We have three points that we’re supposed to watch out for._

_“Point One: Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, we will have to follow a large hallway for around forty five meters until we get to a crossroads. This could prove to be a dangerous position as there are no doorways, nooks, or anything else to our sides. Just walls. With all of the chaos around the rest of the base, we’re betting on the fact that they don’t pay attention that area and we’re able to get deeper before we meet enemies. That said, I’m sure that we’re all conscious on the danger of betting in this business. Should something go wrong, we cannot afford to retreat unless absolutely necessary or we risk an exit point for those inside or an entry point for any enemies that are coming to defend their base. That said, we aren’t looking to have a masacre today, and I’d rather not die, so we’ll do what we have to do to survive. We should be able to get to the end of that stretch quickly as long as we hussle, so we should be fine._

_“Point Two: Once we reach the end of the hallway, we’ll find ourselves at a crossroad leading in four directions, one of which we would have just come from. On all of our sides will be giant storage rooms. We don’t know what’s inside of those rooms, just that there should be minimal people in that area. The barracks and rooms are on the opposite side of the underground, as well as up on ground level, so we shouldn’t be somewhere that is full of soldiers. That said, it’s possible that those rooms hold things that La Chrome cannot allow to fall into our hands. We all thought he was dead up until now, so he could have been banking on that and loading his pockets with weapons, goods, and all sorts of disgusting things. There will be three ways for enemies to come from, which is what makes this area potentially dangerous._

_“Assuming that we make it through this crossroad unscathed, we will be forced with a decision. I’ve instructed Ritz and the others at Mission Control to alert us if one of the directions will lead us to another A-Team that might need additional support, but, otherwise, we’ve been assigned to split up. I know it’s not what we’d want to do, but the decision was out of my hands. We’d become A-Teams 4a, 4b, and 4c. 4a would be led by myself, 4b would be led by Delirious from the BBS, and 4c would be led by Russ from the Late Night Crew who are here under Pewdiepie. 4a would take the right, 4b would continue straight, and 4c would go left. Once again, that’s assuming that we don’t get orders from Mission Control to go assist another team or to go a specific route._

_“Whether or not we split up, we’re all going to eventually end up heading to the garage. It’s on the southeast side. We’ll get additional details on our route to there once our other variables are determined._

_“Finally, Point Three: Along the straight path from the crossroads, there is a room on the blueprints that has no additional information on it. It’s somewhat towards the inner middle of the underground but more to the east, so it’s probably not something that is too important, but it’s still a question of what’s inside. We don’t know if it holds people, weapons, or anything. Most likely it’s nothing, but, just in case, we’re supposed to watch out for it._

_“Okay, that’s all. We should be arriving in a few minutes, so take a deep breath, calm your mind, and let’s go kick some ass.”_

When Krism finally finished, Delirious tried to go over her instructions a few times in his head. It was a lot of information, but it could be worse. He was most worried about the possibility of having to lead a small team. He wasn’t a people person or a leader. He was just a crappy hitman with a lot of anxiety that wouldn’t go away. He was in no position to be telling anyone what to do.

The van slowed to a stop.

 _“Alright team. Out we go.”_ Krism said.

Delirious reached around the back of his head to slid his hockey mask over his face. By the time he slid along the bench and climbed out of the van, several others had done similar.  
They were standing along a line of trees at the edge of a parking lot. Delirious could just spot the giant building through the branches. The ocean was bright behind it but the sky was dark. He glanced up at the murmuring clouds as if expecting them to scream. What better conditions could there be for a giant raid on a death defying gang boss and his two thousand person gang?

Three more vans pulled up beside their own. Delirious recognized Hutch as he came out, but there wasn’t time to think for long. As the D-team spread out and prepared, Jiggly’s voice buzzed in his ear.

 _“The final teams have just gotten into position. It’s time to advance. Stay smart.”_ Jiggly said.

The nervous energy could almost spark in the air. With a nod from Krism, A-Team 4 started towards the building. D-Team 12 was right behind them.

The sound of footsteps was loud like thunder but not as possibly booming as the frantic pounding of Delirious’ heart. One of the two, the footsteps or the heartbeats, was surely going to alert La Chrome. They were all going to get shot down before they could get into the building. Delirious could feel it.

A cold sweat formed under his shirt. This must be the brush of death on his skin. It was a warning that he wasn’t going to make it through the day. He should turn and run. He should give up. He should go back to the days of being a lone hitman, always watching his back.

But there was no way that he would. Never in a million years.

The BBS was his family now. He would fight with them and he would die for them. There was no going back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of planning and not a lot of action, I know, but we're finally coming up to the big one!


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

They reached their breach point just as a series of explosions sounded from the other side of the giant building. The two teams flattened themselves against the wall roughly ten feet from the metal door they were meant to enter through. Someone from D-Team 12 threw a sticky bomb against the door and they plugged their ears as it detonated.

“A-Team 4 going in.” Krism yelled from beside him. He could hear it buzz in his ear through the earpiece.

“D-Team 12 going in.” Hutch said.

_“A-Team 4 and D-Team 12 are in.”_ Jiggly said. The message must have gone out to the entire group, because, shortly after as they were filing into the hallway, he heard Jiggly speak again. _“A-Team 1 and D-Team 9 are in.”_

Two men flung open the doors leading into the conference room. Delirious fired almost on impulse, shooting down two guys before the doors even slammed against the walls behind them. A few people pushed past him to secure the room. He shook his head, trying to focus.

“A-Team 4, let’s head down the stairs. We’re about to enter Point One, so keep your eyes open.” Krism said. She nodded to Hutch, who nodded back, and then she led them down the long hallway. Behind them, Delirious could hear Hutch yelling orders to D-Team 12 about securing the doors until his voice faded into nothing.

They moved near silently through the hallway and down the stairs. He tried to ignore the occasional stutter in his step with any sudden echo of an explosion through the hall. The basement was even louder, though they didn’t pass anyone during their long walk to the crossroads.

“We’re here at the crossroads. What do you want us to do?” Krism asked.

_“Give me a second. We’re still trying to access their security footage to pinpoint your exact location.”_ Ritz answered.

So they waited, eyes shifting to watch all four directions. It was eerily silent around them. Delirious felt like his breathing was too loud, ricocheting against the blinding white walls and back at them. No one else seemed to notice.

God, he forgot how much he hated working with other people.

_“We just managed to hack the cameras on the Western side. Stay where you are.”_ Ritz said.

They continued to wait.

“Ritz, are you sure we shouldn’t just continue towards the garage?” Krism asked. “We can change our direction later if you need us to.”

_“For now, stay put. Our technician is saying that it should only be another minute.”_ Ritz said.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We’re just sitting duc-”

A single bullet was all it took for chaos.

They weren’t sure where it came from, sent immediately into a frenzy of movements and yelling. Delirious held the man in his arms, helping to lower him to the ground. He set him down, realizing that he had never asked his name and that no one would know what to call him until they had the chance to tell his gang. For now, Delirious could only call him dead.

The pack of shooters came from the left hallway, firing at them and giving them no time to assess the situation. Krism grabbed him by the hood and pulled him around the corner and away from the body. For a split second he was back on the dock with Nasio in his arms and Smitty next to him. But there was no Evan to comfort him and wipe his tears. Instead, there were people still coming and Krism was hitting him on the back and yelling at him to get his fucking act together before they all die in this shithole of a hallway.

His mind was suddenly alert, as if his brain had been shaking around for weeks but had finally snapped back into place. He peered around the corner. Bullets were being traded back and forth but he managed to stay out of direct fire, leveling his rifle and taking careful shots.

“Shit!” Krism said, and she practically collapsed next to him, sitting so that her back was against the wall. Delirious took another shot before twisting behind the corner. It took only a split second until he realized that she had been shot in the shoulder.

He looked at the two other hallways where members of the A-Team were positioned.

“I need a first aid kit.” he said, pressing the earpiece. He figured that was the best course of action, otherwise they might not hear him over the gunshots.

A women across the hall from him looked in their direction, eyes widening when she spotted Krism. She pulled a kit from her pocket and slid it over to him. He thanked her with a nod.

“We have to stop the bleeding.” he said, kneeling next to her.

“I know. I used to be a nurse.” Krism said. There was humor in her voice but she winced as she unzipped her vest and pushed it and her shirt off of her shoulder.

He ripped a patch of gauze from its wrapping and pressed it against the wound. She hissed and bit her lip but he continued.

“How’s it looking, boss?” she joked. A stray bullet bounced against the corner behind them and lodged itself in the wall next to her head but she didn’t even flinch.

“You’re going to need some actual medical attention when this is all over. The bullet hit you in a place that the vest couldn’t cover.” Delirious said. One of their other members across the hall took a bullet to the throat and dropped to the ground. He tried not to focus on that. Instead, he finished wrapping the bandage to hold the gauze in place and taped it down. “That should work for now. Sit here.”

There were only eight or so more guys firing at them, and Delirious had a carnal desire to destroy all of them, so he snatched up his previously discarded rifle and started picking them off. The final man hit the ground in a way that made all time stop. It was silent in the hallway. Delirious felt like he was swimming in honey as he nodded to the people across the hall and moved back to Krism.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked.

“Peachy. Radio Mission Control.” she responded.

So he did.

“We have two injured and three dead for A-Team 4.” Delirious said. His eyes slid from one face to another, never lingering on anyone for more than a split second. “How should we proceed?”

_“We’ll send some members of D-Team 12 to retrieve the injured.”_ Ritz said. He sounded like a robot, or a shell of his own self. _“We finally got the cameras working in your part of the building. You’ll need to head North.”_

“I’m going to fight the world.” Krism grumbled from where she was on the ground. Her eyes flickered to Delirious. “You need to tell them that I’m injured and that you’re taking over as leader.”

He gaped at her, most likely looking like a fish out of water.

“You said that it probably wouldn’t come to that.” he said.

“Well I didn’t know I was going to get shot right in the shoulder. I can’t carry a gun like this, nonetheless walk.”

He swore to himself but pressed the earpiece. “Krism was one of our injured.”

_“Then you should take over as team leader. We’ll send that out to the other teams. There are no remaining enemies in your area and D-Team members are on the way so you can continue North.”_ Ritz said.

“Alrighty then. Off you go.” Krism said, lifting her healthy arm to wave him away.

“You’re acting pretty normal for someone covered in blood.” another guy said, picking up one of the guns on the ground. She gave him a blank look.

“Boy, what do you think girls do once a month?”

Delirious and a few others snickered, happy for a quick moment of humor.

“Okay, A-Team 4. Let’s head North.” Delirious said. He nodded to Krism, who smiled back, and then he was heading down the other hallway.

He twisted to look behind him at the members following him. They were down to thirteen people, including himself. It was hardly a team compared to the other squads, but Delirious had done incredible things by just himself, or with just Cartoonz by his side. Everything would be fine.

They hurried down the hallway, trying to stay alert. They passed a few doors along the way but there was no one inside. Just large boxes and giant screens and rolling chairs at round tables.

_“D-Team just reached the injured. They’re getting them out to a Support Team now.”_ Ritz said. His sudden voice spooked one of the girls so much that she fired a single bullet into the floor. It reminded him of the attack on Nanners’ base and his heart pounded uselessly.

“Sorry.” she muttered.

“It happens to the best of us.” he said. He pressed the earpiece. “Thanks Ritz. Keep us posted on their condition.”

_“Will do.”_

_“Be careful up here, Del.”_ Matt said. He was a little surprised to hear a new voice but kept moving. _“You should be coming up to Point Three.”_

“We’re coming up to Point Three.” Delirious said to the group.

The others shared a nervous look. He didn’t slow their pace. Better to go full force at it than shy away. It was their job.

They came up to another crossroads with smooth walls on all sides.

_“You should be next to it. It’s on your right.”_ Matt said.

Delirious stopped, staring to his right. There was nothing there. Just a wall.

“There’s nothing here.” Delirious said.

_“Are you sure? The blueprints say that it should be right there.”_ Matt said. He sounded just as confused as Delirious felt.

“I’m positive. There’s nothing here.” he said. The other members of A-Team 4 nodded. He was a little relieved that they couldn’t see anything either. For a while he’d been wondering if he should update the mask so he could see a little easier.

_“Give me a second. I’m going to pull up the cameras to see what you’re seeing.”_

“I’m telling you, there’s nothing here.”

“My, my, Jonathan. You of all people should know that there’s more to things than just their appearance.” came a voice.

Delirious’ skin crawled. All of them lifted their rifles, spinning in place to make a small circle, backs together. They had no idea where the voice had come from.

_“Who was that?”_ Matt asked.

Then part of the wall opened, right where Delirious had been staring. Out walked the calm form of Simon La Chrome. Behind him were probably thirty men. Most stood still inside the room, and five of them stood around La Chrome, but each one of them had their guns trained to the members of A-Team 4. There was no way that any of them would be able to survive if they made even a single wrong move.

“What do we do?” one of the girls hissed.

“You shut up and listen to me.” Simon La Chrome said, voice light. “This is my home, and I have no tolerance for little flies buzzing around. Kill them but leave the one in the hockey mask.”

Delirious grit his teeth, making a split second decision. He threw himself at the door, effectively blocking the guns from their positions on the A-Team.

“Run!” he yelled.

There was immediate panic as the A-Team sprinted down the hallways, the men started shooting, and La Chrome grabbed his arm. He tried to twist out of the grip, rage and adrenaline pumping through his veins and free hand reaching for his pistol, but the five men were quick to pin him down.

_“Delirious!”_ Matt screeched.

_“A-Team 4 has been compromised!”_ one of the girls yelled.

_“What’s going on?”_ Ritz asked. _“Someone tell me what’s going on!”_

“Follow them. Take down all the little intruders.” La Chrome said. All of the men except for the four around him hurried away. His attention turned to Delirious. “As for you, we have some talking to do.”

“Bite me.” Delirious said.

“I’ll do you one better.” La Chrome said, pulling the pistol from one of the men. He cocked it and shot. There was a burning pain in Delirious’ leg and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. “Don’t whine, it won’t kill you. Hurry up and bring him in here. We don’t have much time.”


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

He was thrown into an armchair in the middle of the room. One of the men grabbed his pistol, another his rifle, and none of them seemed worried that he was going to try and escape. Not with his leg bleeding like it was. Four of the men stood at each corner of the room while La Chrome took the chair across from Delirious, the final one standing right behind Delirious, most likely with a gun trained to his head.

The room wasn’t very large, but he felt like he was in a lion’s den, especially with how dark it was. There was a big desk on one side of the room covered in all sorts of fancy gadgets. Four armchairs were in the middle, all facing each other. Delirious had to take a deep breath when his mind finally cleared enough to notice that the rug beneath his feet was the fur of a polar bear, head still attached.

_“Delirious!”_

La Chrome snapped once and one of the men brought him a chilled glass of whiskey. He downed it in one go, dropping it back into the man’s waiting hand. With a nod, the man backed away, leaving La Chrome’s attention on Delirious.

“It’s about time that we met, wouldn’t you think?” La Chrome asked.

“Fuck off.” Delirious spat. He must not have seemed like much of a threat as La Chrome’s lips twitched a little in amusement, eyes sparkling like he’d finally caught the prey that he’d long been hunting.

_“Delirious, give us a sign that you’re still alive.”_

_“This is a fucking disaster!”_

“I’m serious. I didn’t think that we would meet with you sneaking around my base like a little mouse, but life tends to surprise us in all sorts of wonderful ways.” he said. “Once we take care of all of your other little rodent buddies, we’ll be able to have a longer chat, but, until then, I’d love to just talk for a moment.”

“What if I don’t want to talk to you?” Delirious asked. He winced as a jolt of pain raced from his leg and through the rest of his body.

“Believe me, you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

_“A-Team 4, please regroup at the entrance you came in from, if you can. D-Team 12 is waiting for you. Otherwise, continue to the garage. It’s our next best secured location.”_

_“Did anyone have eyes on Delirious?”_

La Chrome stood, tall form unfolding from the armchair. He took a mere two steps forward, arm reaching out towards Delirious’ head. He went to defend himself, trying to keep La Chrome from removing his mask, but the man behind him punched him in the shoulder. It was only a warning.

Instead of trying to take off his hockey mask, La Chrome hooked his finger around Delirious’ earpiece, pulling it out and throwing it to the ground. Delirious watched helplessly as his only possible contact with his allies was crushed under the heel of La Chrome’s very expensive shoes.

“There. No more distractions.” La Chrome said, sitting back in his seat. “Just you and me.”

“And the five other guys in this room.” Delirious grumbled.

“Yes. And them.” La Chrome said. “Now onto more important things. You shut down my offer a few years ago.”

“I didn’t think you were alive.”

“There was no way for you to have known. No one knew until now. I’d managed to assemble a new, better gang under the name Owen Richards. For all my underlings knew, Richards was a rich businessman who lived out in New York City and wanted more access to the docks of Los Santos in order to grow his technological empire. They were loyal to his money. But when I found out that the BBS and their little posse down at the docks were getting close to the truth, I figured it was time to reveal to my men exactly who had been paying for their sad, meaningless existences. My closest advisors, those who knew that I was who I was, warned that I would be prompting some of my army to go off and spread the truth of my identity, but I knew better. My gang is filled with hateful little creatures. They all felt honored to get to work under Los Santos’ King, risen again. So it didn’t take much to turn the BBS on its axis without anyone inside even knowing.

“You see, Jonathan, when you have a gang as large as mine, it’s impossible for anyone else to keep track of them all. It would only take one little miscreant with the face of a man who could do no evil in order to ruin everything for you all. It was a good thing that I had placed this little bug into your side months before anyone suspected anything was amiss. Insurance, you might say. He’s proved to be more useful than I ever could have imagined.”

“What are you even talking about?” Delirious’ mind was whirring, trying to think of who this ‘bug’ could have been. It couldn’t be someone in the BBS, could it? No. Maybe from Nanners’ gang? He did have a lot of guys on his side. Were there any of them that blended into the shadows?

“Think about it, Jonathan. Use your mind for a second. I’ve been one step ahead of you for so long, I want to give you a chance to catch up.”

“Stop messing around.” Delirious snarled. La Chrome grinned.

“You’re no fun right now. Alright, I’ll tell you. I snuck a man into the gang run by Adam Montoya with the instructions to hide my actions. No need for fighting or getting close to anything dangerous. Just doing enough to make sure that Montoya and the BBS couldn’t track my movements. It worked for a few months, until a freighter made a mistake and put a crate in the wrong place. He asked if he could return back to our base before people started figuring things out and pointing fingers, but I instructed him to stay. He had been far enough on the downlow that it would be unthinkable to accuse him, and I thought him more useful remaining there than back here.

“When the BBS got closer, we hacked your system, along with Montoya’s. There was no way to track us, as I’m sure you and your friends are aware. No IP address or lingering proof of anyone being there at all. But, you see, no one could have suspected that the hacker was inside Montoya’s base, and using one of Montoya’s computers. It would just be unthinkable, especially with how our man had wrapped around and made it look like someone was hacking into Montoya’s system.

“The men who you met the docks that night were a confirmation that you were really who I thought you were. I couldn’t have been more surprised when your file appeared in my email that night, I was just too excited to wait for the opportunity to prove that you were there. I’m truly sorry to hear about your little friend. I instructed them to not cause any casualties, but I guess they got carried away. Oh, don’t growl at me, Jonathan. I wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. Besides, he was just a scrappy little street boy. We were actually sparing him a life of crime, drugs, and prostitution if you think about it. Do you want to hear the rest or not? Good, I thought so.

“The attack on Montoya’s base was not only meant to eliminate some of his men and power, but to also get my man a way inside of your base. There was no way he could get inside without some sort of unfortunate circumstances, so what better way to do so than blow up a building? You were even better than imagined, Jonathan. I watched you, you know. Killing all of those men as if they were nothing to you? Stunning. That’s exactly the type of skill that I’ve been looking for. I was reminded then of what I knew all along- you belong by my side, Jonathan. Not that filthy owl's. Yes, I’ve heard about your little adventures and squabbles with Vanoss. Forget him, Jonathan. Think about what you could do if you weren’t held back by the law. Can you even imagine what we could accomplish together? Stop shaking your head, you look like an idiot. Let me finish, and then you’ll realize just how much power you would hold if you joined me.

“After the attack, my man was inside of your base. Simple. From there, I’ve been able to obtain all the information that I could have wanted, including your plan to attack me today. It’s only a matter of time until all of your friends are completely eliminated. But that’s not all my man did. He went above and beyond the call of duty and even befriended some of you. Thanks to that, he was able to slip around your base with no problem, leaving secret cameras behind. You might be surprised to know that your good friends Cartoonz and Ohmwrecker, as I believe they’re called, had a very passionate night last night. From what I’ve heard, they’ve been circling around each other for years. It’s a good thing they finally seem to have resolved it, seeing as they’ll never see each other again.”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Delirious roared. “Don’t talk like you know them.”

“But I do know them, Jonathan.” La Chrome said, the pity obvious in his voice. Delirious wanted to deck him. “I’ve seen all of you at your best and your worst. I’ve watched you all go through the motions of your day. It’s almost as if I’m a part of BBS too.”

“You’re not.”

La Chrome laughed.

“I’m glad. I wouldn’t want to be a part of that sorry excuse of a gang.”

“Just tell me who your fucking guy is.”

“I thought you wanted me to, how did you phrase it, shut my mouth.”

“Stop being a smartass and spit it out.”

“Alright, Jonathan. There’s no reason to get frustrated. I’m not meaning to make you mad, which is why I’ll ask: Do you really want to know? We can always wait until this is all over and then you can talk it through with him instead of stewing over it for hours.”

“Fucking tell me.”

Delirious’ blood ran cold as he watched La Chrome’s lips move. There was no way he was saying what Delirious thought he was saying. It must be the blood loss or the adrenaline or just his mind playing tricks on him. It couldn’t be true.

“I believe he’s continued to go by the name Mathew.”

.

.

.

Something buzzed along Vanoss’ spine, thick inside of his bones. He rolled his shoulder slowly, trying to clear that feeling. His eyes were trained on the doorway in front of his team, waiting for anything to happen. A few members of D-Team 9 had gone inside to make sure that A-Team 1 was clear to go, so he had no choice but to stay in his spot. The wait was almost worse than anything they could have met inside, but he had a plan to follow and lives to protect.

Still, something felt very wrong. He fought the urge to contact Mission Control. Nothing good would come from flooding them with his worries. He was a gang boss and a leader, and he had to remain calm.

 _“All clear.”_ Ohm said.

 _“A-Team 1, you are safe to continue to the basement. D-Team 9, cover their entry.”_ Slam said. _“We just gained access to the cameras in your areas, so I will be monitoring you all.”_

“Alright A-Team 1, let’s move.” Vanoss said, waving for them to follow him. He nodded to Ohm as they passed each other. He would have felt more comfortable if Ohm was accompanying him down to the basement, but neither of them had that choice. Instead he’d have to be reassured that there couldn’t be a more trustworthy leader covering their entry point.

The basement was noisy. A-Team 1 moved quietly, but they were still noticed by a pack of men who were eating at a set of tables in one of the rooms. The men La Chrome employed were brutish, and nothing could have prepared him for the folding table that one of them threw straight into him. It knocked the air out of him and he skidded to the floor. Luckily, members of his team stepped over him and took down the men before anyone else could get hurt.

“Are you okay?” one man asked, kneeling down to help him up. When Vanoss was finally able to get a good look at him, he recognized the man as Smarty, one of Chilled’s friends.

“Yeah, thanks.” Vanoss said. He pushed himself up, brushing off his pants and signalling the team to follow him down the hallway.

It had been maybe fifteen minutes since then, and they had just intercepted another group and began firing when Jiggly’s voice came over the radio.

_“A-Team 4’s leader has been shot and is being removed from the building as we speak. Delirious of the BBS will be taking over as leader in her place.”_

Vanoss couldn’t tell if his feelings about that were negative or positive. He shook his head, focusing on the enemies in front of him. There would be time after this was all over to talk to Delirious. They would both be fine.

“Nice work.” he said after the final man had been shot. So much for ‘attempt to detain’, at least for their team. None of them had the patience to try to capture any of them. “Let’s keep moving. Slam, which way should we go?”

_“Okay A-Team 1, you’re going to want to go left. I’m not seeing anyone approaching from that direction, but on your first right there’s a fight between A-Team 7 and- sorry what did you say, Ritz? A-Team 1, give me a second.”_

“Should we go towards A-Team 7 while we wait to hear from him again?” Smarty asked. Vanoss nodded.

“Come on, team.” he said.

They started down the hallway, moving quickly to reach the turn where A-Team 7 was. Vanoss hoped that they could reach them before anything happened to Wildcat, and that the two teams could continue moving together.

 _“A-Team 4 has intercepted Simon La Chrome.”_ came Jiggly’s near frantic voice over the radio. Smarty nearly ran into Vanoss when he froze in the middle of the hallway. _“We’ve lost connection with their leader. A-Teams 1 and 7, as well as D-Teams 12, 14, and 15, their scattered members are approaching your locations. They are being pursued.”_

 _“A-Team 1, if you continue down towards A-Team 7 you’ll intercept some of the A-Team 4 members.”_ Slam said.

“On our way.” Vanoss said.

A-Team 1 rushed down the hallway until they came to the turn where A-Team 7 was fighting. The enemies were no match for the two A-Teams. They were quickly taken down with no casualties for either team. A group of five was decided to go meet the stragglers from A-Team 4 and lead them back to the other two teams. Meanwhile, the two A-Teams would secure the hallway and wait for the group to return.

“How’s it going, stranger?” Wildcat asked, coming up to Vanoss.

“We’re doing fine. You?”

“One of our guys was shot.” Wildcat shrugged as he said it, but Vanoss could tell that he was frustrated by it. The BBS hadn’t once lost a member. It was something that the two of them had decided would never happen. So, to lose someone, even someone that they didn’t know, was always startling.

But sometimes it was inevitable.

Vanoss pounded Wildcat on the back a few times, hoping to make it known that he was always there for him.

“Here they come.” someone yelled.

They watched as the group returned along with two others. One of the newcomers was sporting a nasty looking gash on his thigh. The other was helping him walk. When they helped the injured one sit, the other looked momentarily lost, like he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing.

“What happened?” Wildcat asked the man.

“Simon La Chrome and a bunch of guys came out of a secret room and ambushed us.” he said. He paused and then shook his head. “Well, they were going to just shoot us there, but Delirious jumped in front of them and told us to run. I didn’t think too hard after that. I guess we all got split up or something, I mean this place is a fucking maze, but suddenly it was just Diction and I and like five guys after us. It’s a good thing that you guys came when you did or we would’ve been done for.”

“Where is Delirious now?” Vanoss asked, stepping forward. He had an uneasy feeling deep in his heart. “Do you know?”

The man shook his head.

“No idea. I think I heard a shot right after we left, but I don’t know if it was with him. There was too much going on.”

“We have to finish off the gang.” Wildcat said, looking at Vanoss. “We can’t go looking for him.”

“He’s with La Chrome. If we take La Chrome out, it’s over.”

“He can take care of himself. We need to get rid of the body before the head.”

“I need to go help him.” Vanoss hissed.

“You’re going to risk everything if you go after him, Vanoss. Think of all of the lives that rely on us all sticking to the plan.” Wildcat stepped into Vanoss’ space and, though Vanoss wasn’t particularly short, Wildcat loomed over him. “Stop acting like a fucking kid. You’re the boss of the BBS and you’re the leader of A-Team 1. Fucking start acting like it.”

Vanoss had a quick impulse to wind up and knock Wildcat in the head for telling him off like that, but he knew that he was right.

“Fuck you.” he muttered, swinging around to face the members of A-Teams 1 and 7. He couldn’t stand the thought of how smug Wildcat probably was. “Alright. I’m going to contact Mission Control and ask what our next course of action should be. Is everyone fine with that?”

There was a wave of affirmative muttering and no disputes, so he nodded, mostly to himself, and raised his hand to the earpiece.

“We got our stragglers. Should we continue towards the garage or go after La Chrome?”

“A-Team 1 should head towards the garage and A-Team 7 should go to the spot where La Chrome was last picked up on our cameras.” Slam said.

Vanoss shut his eyes for a moment. Just his luck.

“You heard him, A-Team 1. Let’s continue to the garage.” he said.

The A-Team 1 members that knew anyone in A-Team 7 said parting words while the others just started down the hallway. Wildcat gave him a curt nod, though Vanoss could tell that there was a deeper understanding somewhere inside of those baby blues, and shouted orders to A-Team 7. While Vanoss knew that they had already wasted enough time standing there, a part of him still stung at his friend’s dismissive attitude.

There was no more time to think. He had to get back into leader mode. He could think about Delirious later. For now, they had to keep moving.


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

“The fuck it isn’t.” Delirious said. A few seconds before, he had lunged at La Chrome, only to be restrained by the man behind him and the other closest to them. Now he figured that using his words to express his serious doubt and anger would work better. “I know your tricks, dickhead. I won’t fall for your lies.”

“Jonathan, take a breath. I told you that you wouldn’t like it. You were the one that insisted.”

“Wha-no-shut up! You can’t turn this on me. You’re the one who’s holding me hostage in here. And you’re the one who’s dealing with human trafficking. And _you_ fucking shot me in the leg!”

“And I’ll shoot you in the other one if you don’t shut up.” La Chrome snapped.

“Fucking do it then, pussy.”

La Chrome rose from his chair. He swept his arm and the men still holding onto him forced him to the ground. Delirious tried to struggle out of their grasp but they dug their grips deeper into his skin. He was only able to watch as La Chrome pulled a pistol from one of the men’s holster and cocked it. The shot and flash of pain came soon after, and he honestly only had himself to blame.

Somehow, the second one hurt so much more than the first, and he was suddenly aware of the painful throbbing in both of his legs. Everything was spinning and his skin burned.

Still, they weren’t very careful with him, letting him slip to the ground. His head thudded against the leg of the airchair but it was somehow softer than the thumping of his brain inside of his skull. He didn’t notice La Chrome and four of the men leaving the room, or a small woman with a kind voice coming up to him with a medical kit. He only slightly focused when he felt the soft and cooling feeling of the woman’s hand on his forehead as she tried to comfort him.

She was gone before he could thank her, leaving him laying on the cold floor in a small puddle of blood while the final guard kept watch over him.

.

.

.

_“A-Team 1, watch out as you get closer to the end of this hallway. There’s a small group of five heading towards you that we don’t recognize.”_

“Will do, Slam.”

Vanoss nodded to Smarty, the two of them continuing down the hallway, leading the rest of the group in the direction of the garage. The small group wouldn’t be too much of a problem for them. The members of A-Team 1 had proven to be very calm and collected when faced with opponents and weren’t likely to be reckless. Besides, it was twenty to five.

_“You’re about to intercept them. Be careful.”_

Vanoss and Smarty paused, the group preparing near silently for the opponents to appear at the end of the hall.

 _“A-Team 1, there’s a group coming from behind you.”_ Slam said. His voice was still, but Vanoss could hear an underlying current of panic beneath it.

“How many?” Vanoss asked.

_“Lots.”_

It took just a single bullet and then there was a storm of noise coming from behind them. Many members of A-Team 1 whirled around, trying to defend against the oncoming team, but they knew that they couldn’t hold off against the massive group rushing them. There was nowhere to hold for cover in the hallway. The only option they had was to get to the end of the hallway, take out the group of five, and make it to a secured location before they could be taken out.

“Run!” Vanoss shouted.

There was a haunting shriek as one of their team members went down. She was begging for someone, it must have been a gangmate, to help her up and not leave her behind, but there was no time. They had to keep going or they might all die.

Her begging stopped a few mere seconds later. He couldn't bare to check what had happened to her.

Vanoss’ heart slammed against his ribs, lungs hot. They just had to get to the end of the hallway. It was right there. They were so close.

A man stepped into the mouth of the hallway. Vanoss skidded on his heels, trying to stop before he ran into the figure.

With a single raise of the man’s hand, the onslaught of attackers from behind them stopped. It was as if the entire world paused. Even gunshots from other parts of the building seemed to drop in volume as the noise of blood rushing in Vanoss’ ears rose to an all time high. Colors and lights dimmed around him, and the only movement was his chest rising and falling as he struggled to pull air into his lungs.

But the man at the end of the hallway was a vibrant red. A flashing yellow. A bright turquoise in an otherwise gray world. He was all that Vanoss could focus on, the colors burning into his corneas so that he still saw them when he blinked, as if he had to keep the man in his sights at all time.

Because standing a mere twenty feet away from him was Simon La Chrome.

He stomach churned when the man’s lips curled into a smirk. They were completely surrounded and at La Chrome’s mercy.

And Simon La Chrome was never known to be merciful.

 _“A-Team 1, please remain calm. We’re trying to send another team to help you out.”_ Slam said, but his voice shook. Vanoss was sure that things looked just as bad on his end as they did at Mission Control. Except he was the one, or one of the ones rather, that had a gun pointed at his head.

“Vanoss.” La Chrome sneered, voice calm. “What a surprise. I don’t remember inviting you to visit my base, yet, here you are.”

When Vanoss said nothing, jaw locked firmly in place, La Chrome sighed and shook his head.

“Kids these days- No respect for their elders. You remind me much of our mutual friend Jonathan. He wasn’t exactly the most, how do you say, cooperative when I first found him.”

Vanoss’ blood boiled, rising up into his throat until he couldn’t keep it from spilling over.

“Don’t call him that.” he growled. La Chrome laughed, gaze sharpening.

“Don’t act like you have the right and I don’t. Besides, I believe that you’re in a bit of a predicament and don’t have the power in this situation. I hold more than just your life in my hands.”

Vanoss’ mouth snapped shut. As much as he hated to admit it, La Chrome was right. He had all of A-Team 1 to worry about. He had to be careful in case La Chrome got tired of them and turned this cease fire into a firing squad.

La Chrome started talking again, but his confident drawl was drowned out by a familiar voice booming right into Vanoss’ ear.

_“Ay listen up bitch. This is a pretty fucking shitty situation but, luckily, your good ol’ milkbag pal Smitty was assigned to Mission Control and he’s gonna get you out of this. Okay, bud? Tap your left pointer finger once on your leg to show me that you understand.”_

Vanoss tried not to be too obvious when he let out a breath, tapping once on his leg. If they had put Smitty in charge of talking directly to him, it meant that something was about to go down.

_“Awesome. Alright, here’s what’s gonna happen. I’ve got this friend- you might know him actually- his name is Kryoz. He’s part of this thing called A-Team 8, which found a secret network of air duct systems that moves throughout the entire base. Fun fact- they’re huge. Big enough to fit a team of seven up above you guys. Not only that, but I’ve got another friend, named Mini, that’s maneuvering his team and the remaining members of A-Team 8 around the pack of dickheads behind you. When they get into position, I’m gonna give you the signal, and they’re gonna come out guns blazing. Your job is to keep La Chrome from shooting you all down until then. We’ll need about three minutes if you can do that. Good luck.”_

“-nd to think that you could all deceive me. Who do you think runs this city? Not the BBS, that’s for sure. But still, you can’t imagine how surprised I was when I found out that Jonathan had joined your sorry excuse for a gang.” La Chrome scoffed. “This city has been slipping for quite a few years. He’s exactly the type of soldier that I want standing by my side. Once upon a time, you also could have been the ideal for me as well, Vanoss. It’s too bad you’ve been wasting the last few years playing dress up and make believe with your silly little friends. I let you exist as you were because you caused me no true trouble. As soon as Seananners and his associates started to catch on to my business, I knew that it would only be a matter of time until you all came knocking at my door. Self righteous imbeciles. No matter, I thought. I figured that I could get rid of you before you could reveal me to the other baby gangs in the area. I didn’t think of you as much of a threat. If you were, you would have discovered me years ago.

“But when I saw that Jonathan had joined the BBS, I realized that I had allowed you all to survive for far too long. What a waste it would be to leave him with you. He’s not perfect, god no, not by any means. But he has such raw potential that I knew, and have always known, that he must belong to me. Not to you.”

Vanoss knew that he was in a tough spot. He knew. But, still, he had to hold back from rolling his eyes. Forget distracting La Chrome for three minutes. The man was wasting the time all on his own.

 _“Okie dokie. Get ready, boss.”_ Smitty said, cutting through La Chrome’s speech. Seconds later, the boy’s voice was blasting through each of their earpieces. _“On three, you all need to drop to the ground. Get into a position where you can defend yourselves or stay out of the way. One-”_

Vanoss tightened his grip on the rifle, surprised that La Chrome had made no order for their weapons to be taken from them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Smarty shift slightly on his feet. It wasn’t a big enough movement to alert anyone else of their plan, but it reassured him that someone else was just as ready as he was.

_“Two-”_

One of the girls to his side took a deep breath. He could see her eyes watering slightly.

_“Three!”_

Vanoss figured that he would have been prepared for anything in that moment. He thought that anything could have happened, it wouldn’t have mattered, and he wouldn’t have been surprised.

But when Kryoz and six other guys literally popped out of the ceiling and started shooting, and a mob, about the size of the one that had previously chased them down the hallway, came roaring down the hallway, guns blazing, Vanoss was almost embarrassed to admit that he nearly shit his pants.

There wasn’t time to think, however, as La Chrome’s order to stop shooting was suddenly insignificant compared to the rage of the men around them. Vanoss grabbed Smarty and practically threw him against the wall as A-Team 1 scrambled to get out of the way. The two of them pressed themselves flat against the chilled concrete, not wasting any time in joining in with the assault aimed at the group that nearly took them out. It was almost like a well deserve vengeance.

Speaking of vengeance, Simon La Chrome and his posse were trying to slip away and there was no way in fucking hell that Vanoss was going to let them.

Vanoss gave Smarty a look, receiving one that told him that Smarty thought that he was a “stupid fucking ass” who was “going to get himself fucking killed” but that “fine, bitch, you better hurry up then”, and, with a nod from both parties, took off towards the corner.

 _“I knew you were going to do this.”_ Smitty said. _“I’ll keep an eye on them and tell you where to go. They’re not too far ahead of you. Go left at that turn right there.”_

He would have thanked him, but there was no time to talk. It was time to finally kill this son of a bitch for good.

Vanoss whipped around the corner, expecting that La Chrome and his men would still be running down the hallway. Smitty’s yell of _“Shit, watch out!”_ was a little late. At that point, he could see that they were standing there, waiting for him, for himself.

La Chrome was still heading down the hallway, but his four bodyguards were blocking the hallway. They didn’t give him much time to think, firing a wave of bullets in his direction.

For anyone else, it would have been **GAME OVER**.

But Vanoss was the boss of the BBS, and, no matter what La Chrome said, the BBS was the most powerful gang in Los Santos. They had managed so much more than could have ever been expected, with less than twenty members. A feat like that could only be achieved if each and every one of them was better than imagined. And a group made of the best could only be run by the best.

And so, by that logic, Vanoss was the best.

He twisted, sliding himself against the wall before they could react. There was an eerie sense of calm as, all of the sudden, it didn’t matter who he was up against. He had taken down more people than he had bothered to count. It wasn’t an alliance of gangs against La Chrome anymore. It wasn’t even the BBS. In this moment, it was just Vanoss and four men that he was going to kill.

He didn’t register pulling the trigger. The final body dropped to the floor before he even blinked.

He was glad that it was fast.

He was disappointed that they hadn’t even seen it coming.

“Simon La Chrome.” he boomed down the hallway.

The man stopped in place, leveling his shoulders before turning to stare at Vanoss. His gaze made Vanoss snarl. La Chrome was still looking down on him as if he was dirt. He wasn’t worried at all.

Vanoss was going to make that change. He was going to make him suffer.

He walked slowly down the hallway, each step taking him closer to the end of this. The end of all of this.

“Figures.” La Chrome said. “Go ahead, Vanoss. Shoot me. You’ll regret it.”

“I think you’re the one who’s going to regret it. You’re going to regret everything that’s ever led you to this moment.”

“I’d think carefully if I were you. I’ve always been known to have tricks up my sleeve.”

“It sounds to me that you’re out of tricks and now you know that it’s over.” Vanoss said. He stopped about five feet from La Chrome, raising the rifle so that he’d have a good shot. “Any last words? I know that the world would love to hear them.”

La Chrome shut his eyes, sighing heavily. “Alright, Vanoss. I’ll give you some last words.”

Once again, Vanoss thought that he was prepared for anything. And, once again, he was wrong.

La Chrome pulled his hands from where they’d been behind his back. In the left hand, he held a smartphone, its screen flashing red, and, in his right, a pistol. His eyes snapped open.

“Oh, Vanoss.” he said, a sadistic grin growing on his face. “I’ll always have a trick. Here’s the ultimate one- my base has a self destruct system. And I just triggered it.”

With that, Simon La Chrome, the greatest shadow over Los Santos, raised the pistol to his head and shot it, his cackling laughter echoing through the hallway. Vanoss thought it was the worst sound that he might ever hear.

He realized, as the hallway began flashing red lights and an alarm started blasting around him, that it was far from over.


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

_“All teams need to evacuate the premises as soon as possible. Get as far away from the building as you can.”_ Jiggly yelled. _“We have roughly ten minutes to get everyone out.”_

“You heard the man!” Minx yelled to her team. “We have to get out of here. Galm, can you lead us out?”

_“Already working on finding the quickest way out. For now, start going back the way you came.”_

“What about the hostages?” Terrorizer asked. “We can’t leave them behind.”

“I’m sure they’ve got it covered.” Minx said.

“It was our job to save them! Who could possibly have it covered if not us?” he snapped. He pressed a finger to his earpiece before she could say anything else. “Galm, what’s the plan for the women and children?”

 _“Don’t worry about them. Their guards booked it when the alarms started so the support team, A-Team 8, and D-Team 16 are helping get them out as we speak.”_ Galm said. _“Focus on yourselves for now.”_

Terrorizer nodded, body feeling a little frozen. Minx nodded back to him, leading the group down the hallway and through the twists and turns to find their way out.

He hoped that La Chrome’s guys were gone for good, and that they weren’t thinking of turning back around and attacking the teams helping the hostages. If Moo got hurt after all the shit that he had given him for being on a D-Team, he was going to- no, he shouldn’t be thinking like that. Everything was going to be fine. They were all going to get out of this.

.

.

.

“Smitty, which way to Delirious?” Vanoss asked.

 _“Dude, the base is about to explode.”_ Smitty said.

“And? You just expect me to leave him behind?”

 _“Of course not. I just wanted to make sure that you knew what you were signing up for.”_ Smitty said, prompting a small smile from Vanoss. _“You’re going to have to run.”_

  
“I was already planning on it.”

_“Okay, borther. Go straight.”_

.

.

.

The world suddenly got a little brighter, and a whole lot louder. He groaned, trying to lift an arm to cover his eyelids and block out the light, but his body felt like lead. His head pounded, but he couldn’t remember anything. There was no way that he had gotten hella wasted with Cartoonz the night before, had he? It wouldn’t explain why his legs felt like shit though.

The memories came flooding back all at once.

He cried out, opening his eyes and scrambling to sit up. The entire room span as he pushed himself back against the chair. Red lights were flashing around him and something was blaring so loud that he couldn’t hear it so much as feel it. The door that led to the hallway was open. Obviously the guards were gone, leaving him alone.  
Delirious clenched his teeth, checking his legs. Much to his surprise, they were bandaged.

They still hurt like hell.

He tried to push himself up into the chair behind him but they ached so greatly that he couldn’t do it. He’d been shot many times. The pain shouldn’t have been anything new. Yet, somehow, maybe because it was both of his legs or because he may have lost a fair amount of blood, his head swam and he couldn’t move.

“Fucking hell.” he spat. “No earpiece, no allies, and no way to move. This is fantastic.”

It was not, actually, fantastic.

He couldn’t just sit there while alarms blared around him. There must be a reason that they were going off, and it probably didn’t mean good things for him.

In the pauses between the alarms, he could suddenly hear the sound of footsteps rushing towards him. That was also a problem. He didn’t have any way to defend himself. If he didn’t get into a position where he wasn’t just sitting on the ground waiting for death, he would be killed. It was now or never.

With a hiss he pushed himself from the ground and into the chair. His body was alight with fiery pain but he kept himself from crying out. He had to make himself seem stronger than he actually was. It was time to bluff.

The footsteps neared closer. He took a breath to prepare himself as a shadow loomed in the doorway. He stared, letting his eyes adjust.

And then he practically collapsed at the sight, blinking back hot tears.

“Jon.” Vanoss breathed, looking every bit like he’d just run a marathon. His chest heaved with each gulp of air and there was sweat on his brow, but Delirious was convinced that he was an angel.

Before Delirious could say anything, Vanoss was upon him, tugging at his arm.

“We have to go. We only have a few minutes until the base self destructs.” he said.

“Self destructs?” Delirious exclaimed. “What the hell?”

“La Chrome activated it before he died. Come on.”

Vanoss tugged again and Delirious felt his heart rocket to his throat and his stomach drop.

“You have to go.” he said. If it had been any other situation, Delirious would have laughed at how Vanoss’ eyes got comically big behind his owl mask. But now was not the time. “I can’t walk. I’ll just slow you down.”

“Jon, there’s no way that I’m leaving you behind!”

“You have to!” Delirious sobbed. He felt like a child, bursting into tears, but he couldn’t help it. “You can’t sacrifice yourself for me. You have to save yourself. Someone has to run the BBS and it has to be you.”

“I’m not sacrificing myself.” Vanoss said. “I’m not going to die here and neither are you.”

“If you try to get me out of here, we'll both die. I can’t move, Evan! I couldn’t even get into this fucking chair without almost passing out.”

“Jon, I-“

“You have to leave before we die and-“

“Jo-“

“Listen to me, you have to-“

“No, you listen to me!” Vanoss snapped. “You can’t move, huh? Well that means that you can’t run away from me anymore. It’s your fucking turn to listen to me, so shut up!”

Though it wasn’t the time or place, Delirious blinked at him, too stunned to speak. And that was exactly what Vanoss had been going for.

“I’ve spent enough time waiting for you to come to me. You’re used to doing everything yourself, but that’s not the BBS way. That’s not my way. You’re family now. Even more than that, I like you. I really, really like you, Jon, in a way that I’ve never liked anyone before. I wanted to do everything just right, but I tried too hard and messed things up, and I’m sorry. The others thought that the best way to fix it was to let it smooth over on it’s own, and I thought that forcing you to talk to me would make you open up, but what really mattered was what was right for who you are. I shouldn’t have assumed that everything was going to work itself out in the end because, in this job, we don’t get to assume. So, I’m sorry, but now you’re going to hear me out. I’m done wasting time.”

He took a breath as if he was going to continue talking, but his face twisted in annoyance and his mouth snapped shut with an audible click.

“What?” Delirious whispered.

“Smitty just reminded me that I am, in fact, ‘wasting valuable time that the two of us could be getting out of the building’ and that we should save this conversation for a time when we’re not about to die.” Vanoss grumbled. With surprising strength, he lifted Delirious into his arms, one hand hooked below his knees and the other on his back. “Hold on tight, I’m gonna run.”

 _“Run?”_ Delirious gasped, still ready to dispute, but Vanoss was already racing out of the room and down the hallway. His legs pulsed in pain and he shoved his face into Vanoss’ shoulder to try not to focus on it, squeezing his eyes shut.

In Delirious’ mind, there was no way that they were going to get out in time, not with Vanoss having to carry him. This decision was suicidal, and they were both going to die.

Misfortune.

It had been a while since Delirious had thought about it, what with being so busy preparing for the attack and all, but now the realization had shocked him. Delirious brought bad things to all those around him. The hacking, Nasio’s death, the attack on Nanners’ base, Krism getting shot, La Chrome surprising A-Team 4, Matt being a spy, and, now, Vanoss getting killed trying to save him. All of that was his fault. All of it.

“Jon.” Vanoss breathed.

Delirious didn’t want to open his eyes. He couldn’t bare to see Vanoss’ face. The man had probably realized that it was over for them. Delirious couldn’t handle someone else knowing just how much misfortune Delirious had brought with him.

“Jon. Open your eyes.”

Delirious shook his head. The noise around them, blaring alarms, was morphing. Was this it? Was this the sound of them dying? If it was, it was utterly overwhelming, way too loud.

“Jon,” Vanoss was yelling at this point. “You need to let go.”

Let go? There was no way. He didn’t want to die, he didn’t want to go. There were so many things that he still wanted to do, so much more that he wanted to experience. He wanted to make sure that Cartoonz and Ohm were okay, and to play more board games with Smitty and Kryoz. And he wanted to go on more adventures with Mini, and have GTA night again with Marcel and Lui. He wanted to squabble with Nogla and Brian and Wildcat, and sit and talk with Brock. He wanted to get burgers again with Scotty, and listen to Bryce sing quietly in the morning. He wanted to party with Nanners and Gassy and all of their guys, and officially meet Krism’s wife and all the other strong bosses. He wanted Matt to explain himself.

He wanted to work things out with Evan. How could he have run away for so long? Why couldn’t he have just tried to fix his problems?

He didn’t want to die.

“Jon, you need to let go. I need to put you down.”

Put him down?

“Bring him over here!”

The new voice startled him. It was clear as day, and definitely not Vanoss.

Delirious lifted his head and opened his eyes. They were no longer in the white hallways of La Chrome’s base. They were outside, surrounded by bustling people who were all yelling and loading up into vans. In the distance, he could hear faint police sirens.

“What?” Delirious muttered.

“We have to go, there’s only a minute until it explodes. I have to put you down, okay?”

Delirious nodded, wincing as Vanoss practically dropped him into a seat and loaded up next to him.

“Let’s roll.” their driver said, pushing down the gas. The van shot down the road, but Delirious’ mind was still back in the base.

“How did we-”

“I said that we were getting out, didn’t I?” was Vanoss’ response.

Delirious stared at him, eyes wide and glassy behind his signature hockey mask.

“You might want to watch it go.” Vanoss said, pointing out the window.

They stared out at the ocean and the large building, and, suddenly, there was an explosion so massive that the entire earth seemed to shake. The noise of it echoed through the city until it was just a ringing in their ears. Plumes of smoke and columns of fire seemed to shoot from the water. The whole building itself sunk into the ground. That was it. That was the end of La Chrome.

Delirious slapped a hand over his mouth, grumbling out “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

.

.

.

“How’re you feeling?” Luke asked, brushing a strand of hair from Ryan’s forehead.

“Well, they said it’d take me at least a month for me to get back on my feet, and it’s only been one day, so I’d say that I’m not doing too great.” Ryan responded, but there was humor in his voice. He reached for Luke’s hand, taking it gently and squeezing it, voice dropping in volume. “I’m better now that you’re here. How’s the others?”  
“Del’s still out of it, Kryoz just woke up a few hours ago but is doing fine, and Bryce is already limping around.”

Ryan nodded at that, letting out a deep breath. He had been so worried that they were going to lose someone, especially when he woke up and people were telling him that three of his friends had been injured. That wasn’t to say that the other members of the BBS hadn’t been through the wringer. No, even Luke, who was sitting calmly next to him, was scratched up and bloody.

“And Krism?” Ryan asked.

“Up and at it. I saw her and Minx arguing this morning.”

Ryan chuckled. “That means that she’s fine. That’s good. How about the dead? Do we have a number?”

“So far, thirty seven.” Luke said. Ryan nodded, looking down at their linked fingers. He was so grateful that all of them had survived, but he couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to have lost someone, even as a bigger gang. “Mostly from Mark, Pewds’,and Nanners, but there was one from Satt’s,one from the Nom gang, and two from the Derp Crew.”

Ryan winced.

“It’s not your fault. They knew what they were signing up for.”

“I know.” Ryan assured. “I just can’t help but feel bad. For them, it’s like losing a family member. I know that they only agreed to the attack because I was the one suggesting it. It had to happen for the safety of the city, but it doesn’t mean that it makes it hurt any less.”

“Of course not.”

They sat in a silence, each lost in their own thoughts. But, they were lost together, instead of working through it alone like they were both so used to. In the moment, that was all that they needed.

.

.

.

“You’re an ass.” Smitty mumbled against Kryoz’ lips. “I only came in here to check on you.”

Kryoz snorted, pressing closer to the other boy. He had woken up to a dark room, a numb side, and loads of questions. Marcel had come in a few minutes later, surprised to see that Kryoz was awake. Then it seemed like everyone was bustling in and out of his room, checking on his injury, asking how he was feeling, and, to be honest, annoying the fuck out of him.

“It took you too long to show up. What were you doing all that time?” he asked, reaching to rub his fingers lightly over Smitty’s sides. He smirked at the shudder he felt in response.

“I was waiting until everyone left.”

Kryoz leaned back, disconnecting their lips. He ignored Smitty’s whine. Said whine stopped when Smitty noticed that Kryoz was grinning much like a wolf that had just caught a rabbit.

“What for? Was there something that you wanted to do that you didn’t want anyone to see?”

“No!” Smitty shrieked, knocking Kryoz in the arm. “I just wanted to talk to you in private, that’s all.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, dickhead. When’s the last time I-”

He was interrupted by Kryoz smashing their lips into another kiss. So much for talking.

.

.

.

“How’s he doing?”

Evan looked up from his phone, not having noticed that Brock had come in.

“Still sleeping.”

Brock nodded, resting a hand on Evan’s shoulder.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to go rest in your room for a little while? You look exhausted, and I’m sure that chair isn’t too comfortable.”

“I’m sure. I think that I have to be here.” At Brock’s confused face, Evan sighed. “I just feel like I have to be here when he wakes up. There’s so much that I have to say.”

Brock smiled knowingly. “Alright. Then you have to say it all, okay? Don’t leave anything out.”

“I won’t.” Evan promised. His eyes wandered to Jon’s sleeping form. “Not this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter concludes it all! I'm so happy to be finishing up with this story because it means that I can go on with one shots and other little side stories that are more fun and have way less detail. 
> 
> Feel free to give me any suggestions for other continuations of this story at my Tumblr, goldiegooblog. I'd love to see if anyone has any background stories or relationships that they want me to focus on, or if anyone has questions. Of course, give me any prompts for unrelated BBS one shots. I'm always looking to better my writing!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's read this far, and I hope you all stick around to see next week's final chapter!


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

The moment that Jon woke up was unlike any other in this story. Needless to say, he was in quite a bit of pain and needed some additional medication. Brock, Luke, and Smitty were in and out of the room, talking to him and making sure that he was alright. Even Tyler, who had been all over the place since the end of the battle, made an appearance, smacking Jon heavily on the back and waving off all of the horrified people around them.

So, maybe it wasn’t so much the moment that Jon woke up, but more the time after everyone left and he was able to finally take a breath. Because Evan had been waiting for nearly three days to talk to Jon, and that right there is what makes this event so different. You see, everyone gets so caught up in their own stuff, and rarely, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, do two people just sit and talk it out.

And that’s just what they did, with Jon’s hand resting lightly in Evan’s own, and the two of them finally getting it all out.

It was anticlimactic, really. Sure, Evan confessed that he’d been attracted to Jon since the first time they’d met, which was not an easy thing for him to say since it made him feel creepy, and Jon admitted that he had just been too afraid of rejection to hear what Evan had to say. And, yeah, they agreed that they wanted to treat their relationship as just that, a relationship, instead of just two guys in a gang who wanted to kiss. They both liked the other more than that, and didn’t want to waste any more time pretending that they didn’t.

But that was pretty much it.

Well, not all of it.

“I also wanted to apologize again,” Evan said, thumb brushing back and forth along the back of Jon’s hand. “For coming onto you while on medication.”

“It wasn’t your fault, I know I’m irresistible.” Jon joked. Evan rolled his eyes but his smile only grew fonder.

“That said,” he started, looking anywhere but Jon. “I was wondering if it would be alright, I mean, I wanted to know if I could, no, wait, this sounds weird. Let me start again.” He took a breath. “Jon, I know that our first kiss, or kisses, were not what either of us probably wanted, but I wanted to try again.”

“Try again?” Jon asked. Evan nodded, face flushed. “As in, you want to kiss me?”

“Yeah.”

“Then just say it like that next time. We’ve had enough misunderstandings.”

Evan snorted, eyes finally making their way to Jon’s face. The hand that wasn’t holding Jon’s reached to cup Jon’s cheek, and Evan leaned in. They stared into each other, as if finally seeing each other for the first time. There was no pressure, nothing rushing them forward or holding them back. They were finally safe.

“Are you gonna kiss me or what?” Jon muttered.

So Evan did.

.

.

.

“Ten bucks says Evan and Del are making out up stairs.” Smitty said. Kryoz chuckled from beside him, running a hand through Smitty’s hair. The younger boy leaned subconsciously into his touch, eyes scanning the room for a victim.

“I’ll take you up on that.” Jiggly yelled from across the room, laughing merrily as he reached into his pocket. The younger boy let out something close to a squeal, whipping out his own ten dollar bill and getting up to put it in the ‘bet box’. It had been weeks since the bet box had been touched, so Smitty swiped his hand over the top to get rid of the layer of dust, too excited by his soon to be ten dollars of profit to waste any time.

Jiggly met him at the box, putting his money into it and closing the lid. The two of them shook hands, and then the bet, in officially BBS rules, was official. There had been a long line of Tyler and Brian not giving up their sides of the bet if they lost, and so the bet box had been formed to force them to.

“Why’d you take the bet? You know that’s exactly what they’re doing.” Scotty asked. Jiggly grinned, returning to his seat.

“Now it means that Smit has to get the proof out of them, and that entertainment is worth ten dollars.” Jiggly responded.

“Cheers to that.” Marcel said, raising his beer.

“Cheers.” echoed Scotty, Bryce, Lui, and Nogla, all of whom couldn’t help but agree.

“I, for one, wouldn’t mind existing without anything exciting for a little while.” Bryce said.

“It’s hard to live this life and not have something going on. Haven’t you noticed by now?” Scotty asked. The two of them grinned at each other as if sharing some kind of joke that no one else understood.

“I just want to sleep.” Nogla said. Lui nodded, laughing brightly.

The situation was so normal for them all that it felt out of place in the events of the last few weeks. They each felt as if, at any second, something could go very wrong that would disrupt this calm for them.

But, La Chrome was dead. They had somewhat of a new alliance that trusted each other. Through Delirious, they found out that Matt was a traitor, and, though they still felt betrayed, they knew that the entire city was watching for him. They were safe in this moment, and they knew that they had to take advantage of it.

.

.

.

“We got them all home,” Brock said. “Or, somewhere safe.”

“That’s good. They’re probably all relieved.” Brian responded. Brock nodded.

“I’m sorry I’ve been all over the place the last few days. There was just so much I had to do.”

“It’s all good. As long as you get to be here now.” Brian said, patting the space next to him on the bed. “Take a load off.”

Brock put his phone on silent and set it on their dresser, wandering to the bed and flopping face down into the sheets. It felt like he hadn’t stopped to take a breath since the attack started.  
Brian settled a light hand on the leg closest to him, trying to soothe his husband.

“You know,” Brian said after a few minutes, voice breaking the silence. “If I’m remembering correctly, there was something we started a while ago that we never finished.”

Brock rolled himself over so he could look at the man. “What? Like a jigsaw puzzle?”

“If you consider us the pieces, then, yeah.”

Brock stared blankly at his husband and, not for the first time, wondered what the fuck was wrong with him.

“Are you trying to compare our sex to a puzzle?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“That is the least sexy thing I have ever heard.”

“Brocky, come on!”

“No way! I don’t wanna think about puzzles when I’m having sex. I used to do those with my grandma!”

“Wow, boner kill.”

“Shut up, Brian.”

.

.

.

“Hey.” Tyler said, walking into the office space where Craig was working. “What’re you doing?”

“Just finishing up some stuff. I had to make sure that a bunch of our passwords were changed, what with Matt turning out to have been a mole and all.”

“Yeah, that sucked ass didn’t it?”

Craig hummed, typing a few more sentences and then turning off the computer.

“So,” he swiveled around in the chair so that he could face Tyler. “What’s up?”

“I want dinner.” Tyler said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I want to go get some with you. Like, actually go get some in a restaurant that isn’t falling apart and be gushy and gay and shit.”

“Like a date?” Craig asked, pushing himself up from the chair.

“Yeah.”

Craig smiled, pecking Tyler once on the cheek when he made it over to him and intertwining their fingers.

“That sounds great. Let’s go do that.”

.

.

.

“On a scale from one to ten, one being ‘this is greatly thought provoking and interesting’ and ten being ‘I want to rip my eyes out’, how annoying would you rate this movie?” Luke asked.

“Well, considering it was in the Children’s 7-10 section, it isn’t that bad.” Ryan replied.

“But for two grown ass men?”

“Definitely a seventeen.”

Luke grinned, turning to press a kiss to Ryan’s temple. They sat shoulder to shoulder on Ryan’s bed, cooped up in his room until he was finally healed enough to walk. Buddy was curled up at their feet, there was a kid’s movie on the TV, it’s main character singing about friendship or some shit, and Luke’s heart had never been so full.

“I love you.” he whispered, barely loud enough to be heard over the movie. He didn’t expect a response.

“I love you too.” Ryan whispered back, eyes never drifting from the TV.

If Luke thought his heart had been full before, it was nothing like this.

.

.

.

The sunset had never looked so pretty, Jon decided. He’d never been one for the swirling pinks, yellows, and oranges, but, that night, with Evan at this side and the city laid out below them, the sight nearly brought tears to his eyes.

“Thanks for bringing me up here. I needed to be out of that room.” Jon said. Evan nodded, squeezing Jon’s hand. “I can’t believe that it’s all finally over.”

“It’s not over.” Evan said. “Sure, the fight is, and La Chrome is finally gone, but this? Us, and the BBS, and all of this? Jon, it’s only begun. There’s so much more that we can do.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, soaking in the way they both looked bathed in the light, before, finally, Jon snorted and looked away.

“You’re a sappy and cheesy bitch. It’s only begun? What fucking nonsense is that?” Jon rolled his eyes.

“Shut it before I make you.” Evan said.

“Yeah? Try me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so that's that!  
> I've had such a pleasure writing this story and I'm glad that you've made it all the way to the end. I've never finished a project like this before, and it took me seven months to complete it, so I'm so happy to have it done.  
> This story may be finished, but the universe has only begun. I have so much more in store, so keep looking for it or check me out at goldiegooblog on tumblr! I'm always looking for requests or ideas.  
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
